


Never Far Behind

by JeanieLee



Series: Evelyn Tracy [1]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Twins, Drama, F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-13
Updated: 2008-10-08
Packaged: 2018-01-04 06:43:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 47
Words: 53,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1077820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeanieLee/pseuds/JeanieLee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evelyn Tracy, twin sister of the water loving prankster Gordon longs to be a Thunderbird, but her overprotective father refuses for his little girl to be put in harm’s way. But when the Hood attacks and strands all but her and Alan up on Thunderbird 5, she and her brother will be given the chance to prove just what they can do. Starts before and goes through the movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue- 10,000 Miles

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone and welcome to my newest story. I've been a fan of Thunderbirds since the movie came out back in 2004 and only recently found the fan fiction section here. As I have never seen the show, this fic is movie based with a few TV elements I have learned from various fan fiction around this site. I was originally going to wait a while before writing this story and concentrate on my others, but inspiration struck hard.
> 
> Prologue- Ten Thousand Miles
> 
> Fare thee well  
> My own true love  
> Farewell for a while  
> I'm going away  
> But I'll be back  
> Though I go 10,000 miles
> 
> 10,000 miles  
> My own true love  
> 10,000 miles or more  
> The rocks may melt  
> And the seas may burn  
> If I should not return  
> 10,000 Miles by Mary Chapin Carpenter  
> 

**December 4th, 2010**

The mountains of Engadine valley in Switzerland supplied the backdrop to the fabulous Hotel La Margna; a four-star hotel that was part of the St. Moritz resort, one of the oldest and most famous winter resorts in the world. The snow covered mountains of the Eastern Alps provided plenty of places to ski, snowboard and hike for family's that craved fun and adventure. Though on this day, there were a few that decided to simply relax at the hotel while they had peace and quiet in the absence of five boys varying in ages.

Lucille Tracy had opted not to go skiing on this day, instead choosing to spend a few hours alone with her eight-year-old daughter Evelyn. They both sat curled up on the couch in their family suite of the hotel, wearing comfortable winter clothes and sipping large mugs of hot chocolate. Though the cups were nearly empty now and whatever was left was cold as the two were sucked into one of the movies that they always watched together.

As the credits of the film began to play Lucille stood from her spot on the couch, setting down her mug on the coffee table as she moved towards the large television. She pressed the stop button and ejected the disk before turning back towards her only daughter. The quickly glanced at the clock on the other side of the room before smiling at her daughter. "You want to start another movie? Something the boys might enjoy once they get back soon?"

"Sure," the eight-year-old replied, smiling brightly at her mother as she tucked a stray piece of dark copper red hair beneath her new light blue beanie.

"It's really too bad that they don't like  _Fly Away Home_ ," Lucille commented as she replaced the DVD in the stack on movies they had brought from home on the coffee table before eyeing the titles for something that they would all like.

"Do you think one day I'll be able to fly like Amy?" asked Evelyn, referring to one of the main characters of the movie.

Lucille glanced up from the stack and smiled at her daughter. "I'm sure you will once you're older."

Evelyn smiled, a few gaps showing where she had recently lost teeth. "If daddy lets me?"

"I'm sure he'll let you," Lucy replied, momentarily forgetting about her search through movie titles. "And if he doesn't, I'll do my best to convince him. Because we girls have to stick together."

The mother and daughter laughed for a few moments before Lucy began to continue her search, still chuckling all the while. Lucy finally settled on two movies and pulled them out of the stack. She opened her mouth to ask her daughter's opinion but when she looked at her daughter's face, she quickly became concerned.

She stood up and moved around the coffee table and sat down on the couch beside her daughter and put an arm around her shoulder. The young girl had gone from laughing and smiling to frowning and looking as if she was on the verge of tears. "What's wrong honey?"

Evelyn sat silent for a few minutes, looking down at her hands in her lap before looking up at her mother with a look that broke Lucille's heart. "Like what happened in the movie, what if something happens to you and you…..die."

Lucy's smiled sadly at her daughter before pulling her fully onto her lap and warping her arms around her and resting her chin on her shoulder. "It's like Tom said, I'll always be with you. I'll be in the sky, in the wind, in your heart. No matter where you go, I will always be with you."

Evelyn strained her neck as she turned her head to smile at her mother as she intertwined their fingers. "I love you, mommy."

Lucy smiled and pressed a kiss the young girl's forehead, though she mostly ended up with a mouthful of fuzz from the beanie. Evelyn gave a small laugh when she spotted the small blue fuzz on her mother's bottom lip. Lucy chuckled with her daughter for a few moments before turning back to the task at hand. "Okay, next movie.  _Pirates_  or  _Toy Story_?"

Evelyn bit her lip as she looked down at the two DVD's that had been pulled out of the stack. She made up her mind and glanced with at her mother with a small grin. " _Pirates_."

"Good choice," Lucy replied as she shifted Evelyn off her lap so that she could go and place the DVD in the player. "Which makes me think, it's been a while since we've gone to Disneyland. Maybe we could go this summer since we went to the island last summer."

"Really?" Evelyn asked, her eyes and smile widening the moment her mother had said the word 'Disneyland.'

Lucy pushed the button and the DVD drawer slid closed as she turned and walked back towards her daughter and sat down next to her. "I'll see what your father thinks of the idea."

* * *

Roughly an hour into the movie, they were forced to pause the DVD when Lucille's husband Jeff and their five sons returned to the room with flushed faces and huge smiles. Lucy moved away from the couch to greet her husband while her sons went to change. She wrapped an arm around Jeff's waist and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Have fun?"

"They wanted to go up again," he replied as he wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders. "Where they get all that energy I'll never know."

Lucy gave her husband a brief kiss, pulling away to smile up at him. "They're kids Jeff; of course they are going to have a lot of energy."

"I know that honey," he commented as the two made their way over to the couch and sat down beside their only daughter. She smiled up at Jeff as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "So, did you girls have a fun afternoon?"

"Yeah, dad. Lots of fun. We had lunch down at the restaurant and then mom bought me this hat before we came up here and watched  _Fly Away Home_ ," the eight-year-old replied quickly. Jeff laughed and tightened his arms around his wife and daughter.

"You sure like that movie Evie," commented a voice from behind the couch. Three heads turned simultaneously to see Gordon walking around the couch to sit down next to his fraternal twin. As he sat down, he caught sight of the paused movie on the T.V. " _Curse of the Black Pearl_ , now that's more like it."

Evie frowned at her brother before hitting him upside the head. Gordon exclaimed before lightly shoving his sister into her father's side. Jeff frowned at his second youngest son. "Gordon."

"Hey, she started it!" he cried defensively. Evelyn glared at him. Jeff opened his mouth to say something to them both but was interrupted by the entrance of his youngest son running into the room and jumping into his mother's lap, eager to tell her all that he had done that day.

Shortly after settling into his mother's lap and the four-year-old began talking a mile a minute, the elder three Tracy children, Scott, John, and Virgil entered the room talking loudly about the snowboarding they had done that day. Evelyn turned away from her twin and smiled at her approaching older brothers. "Hey, guys! Wanna watch  _Pirates_?"

Their conversation stopped as they glanced at each other before smiling at their younger sister and replying in unison, "Yeah!"

As the last three members of the Tracy family settled down on the floor before the couch, exchanging stories of their day with their sister, Jeff removed his arm from around Evelyn's shoulder and reached forward to grab the remote. As he pushed play and the talking ceased as all attention become focused on the T.V., Jeff Tracy thought about how truly blessed he was.


	2. He Did What?

**Chapter One - He Did What?  
** **December 12** **th** **, 2019**

In Boston, Massachusetts winter had come with a vengeance. Several feet of snow and chilling winds during the day made many people glad that they were inside. Though for the students of the University of Massachusetts who were taking their last finals before the winter break, inside was the last place that they wanted to be. Eighteen-year-old Evelyn Tracy was one who was torn between hating being inside away from the snow or wanting to be out there and away from the English final she was currently completing.

As the young copper headed women looked down at the last question on her final, she knew she would much rather be outside in the snow that served as a painful reminder of what had happened to her mother ten years ago. As she glanced out the window to see more snow falling outside, she came to the conclusion that she would much rather be taking her history final again for at least that was a subject she was decent at.

Looking down at her paper once more, Evelyn groaned. She was in way over her head. She wasn't even sure what the question was asking. How was she supposed to answer the question when she couldn't even understand the question? She glanced up at the clock to see it was a quarter to four. She had to get out of there soon or she would miss the bus. If she missed it then she would have to walk to her apartment a couple blocks over and that was the last thing that she wanted to do.

Making up her mind, Evelyn stood from her seat, moved to the front of the classroom and set the final down on the desk before returning to her seat and began packing up her things. Finishing as quickly as she could, Evelyn all but bolted out of the classroom. Heaving a relieved sigh as the door closed quietly behind her, Evelyn began to walk towards the nearest exit of the campus where she knew a bus stop waited to take her apartment.

As fresh snowflakes fell onto her hair she pulled her small purse out of her backpack and began rummaging through it to find her beanie. As she pulled the light blue hat out of her purse, she caught sight of the lit display of her cell phone. She pulled on her beanie with a furrowed brow before pulling out her phone. _Seven missed calls? What the?_

Flipping open the phone, she pressed the button to show who had tried to call her during class. Five missed calls from her father and two from Lady Penelope. Before she could push the button to listen to the voice messages, the phone began to vibrate. The caller ID flashed up a picture of a blond woman over ten years older than Evelyn. Evelyn pushed the answer button and put the phone up to her ear.

"Hi, Lady Penelope. What's with the phone messages from you and my dad?" Evelyn asked as she once more began walking along the walkway that led to the exit.

"I've been asked to come and get you, Evelyn," the British agent replied in a serious tone that Evelyn didn't often hear out of the pink loving Lady. "There's been an accident."

Evelyn stopped in her tracks, all color draining from her face. She shivered slightly, but it was not due to the cold. She swallowed before asking, "Who?"

"There's been an accident at Alan's school," Penelope replied. Evelyn felt somewhat relieved to hear that something hadn't happened on a rescue but she also became worried about her younger brother. Before she could ask Penelope continued. "Seems that one of the students in the school's chemistry class this afternoon mixed to wrong chemicals causing the building to catch fire."

"He did what?!" Evelyn cried into her phone. She began walking once more but ten times faster than she had been going before.

"No one has been blamed yet but your father also seems to think that it was Alan," Penelope replied.

"He was probably daydreaming again. From what I hear he does that quite often," Evelyn commented mostly to herself as she approached the bus stop. She heard the older women agree with her as she thought, _You probably do it just as often as he does. But you're lucky. You have college as a distraction._

"Parker and I are approaching your apartment now," Penelope stated. Evelyn glanced down the street and saw the bus approaching.

"I'll be there in about ten minutes Lady Penelope. The code is still the same so can you have Parker grab the dark blue duffle out of the hall closet and make sure Nefi has enough food and water?" she asked, beginning to fidget as she watched the bus get closer and closer but not nearly quickly enough for her taste.

"Nefi?" Penelope asked. Evelyn could hear the smile in her voice. "Is that the stray you found?"

"Yes. Her full name is Nefertiti," Evelyn replied. The cat in question had been wandering about the entrance to the apartment building that Evelyn lived in. She had quickly taken to the pure black cat and had soon after taken her to the vet to make sure she was healthy. The cat had been her companion ever since.

Evelyn smiled in relief when the bus finally stopped before her and the doors opened. "Lady Penelope, my bus just arrived. I should be at the apartment shortly."

"See you soon Evelyn," the blond replied and a dial tone sounded shortly after. Evelyn closed her phone but instead of sticking back into her purse, she put into her front pant pocket. Evelyn stepped onto the bus and smiled at the driver. "Hello, Ernie."

"Hello Evelyn," he replied with a thick southern accent. He was a thin man about thirty years older than herself with graying blond hair that was beginning to thin in the front. He had gotten used to seeing her climb onto the bus every Tuesday and Thursday. "How were your finals?"

"Horrible," she replied. Ernie waited a few more minutes for a few other students that Evelyn recognized from the English class she had just left. Ernie greeted them the same way as Evelyn sat impatiently near the back of the bus. A young man she recognized to be David Mathews sat down a few seats from her and smiled.

Evelyn was so impatient to get moving that she ignored him intentionally, not really in the mood to talk to him right now. Sure he was kind of cute and seemed nice but all she could think about was getting to her apartment to meet Penelope and Parker.

The ten-minute ride felt like forever to Evelyn so when they finally stopped near her apartment building, Evelyn ran off the bus, pushing off the questions about the eye-catching pink car that waited for her at the curb. Parker stood beside the car and tipped his hat to her as she approached. "Miss Tracy."

"Hey Parker," she greeted in return as he opened the door for her. She spotted Lady Penelope sitting inside along with her duffle bag. She smiled at the butler before she climbed in. "Thanks for grabbing my things, Parker."

"Happy to help Miss Tracy," he replied as she climbed into FAB 1 and sat down in the seat next to Penelope, who was dressed in her usual pink. 

Penelope looked up from her palm pilot and smiled at Evelyn. "Hello, Evelyn. Good to see you again."

"Good to see you to Lady Penelope," Evelyn replied as Parker climbed into the front seat of the car. "Though I do wish it was under other circumstances."

"As do I," she replied softly as Parker pulled FAB 1 away from the curb and began to drive towards the outskirts of the city so that they could take off for New Hampshire. 


	3. Southern New Hampshire Medical Center

**Chapter Two-Southern New Hampshire Medical Center**   

When they finally arrived at the hospital, Evelyn was first out of the car and ran into the main building with her backpack slung over her shoulder. The automatic doors slid open to admit her and she ran to the front desk. The woman behind the front desk was currently on the phone and held up a hand to tell Evelyn to wait a moment. Evie rolled her eyes at the women and glanced around the main waiting room and shuddered.

Oh, how she hated hospitals. Ever since her mother had died ten years ago and the hatred of them grew when she had landed herself in the hospital after Gordon's hydrofoil accident. After her father had called her and told her he had been injured badly, she had made the mistake of trying to drive herself when she was in a near panic. In the end, she had totaled the rental and had ended up in the hospital beside her brother.

She heard footsteps from the entrance and looked over to see Penelope and Parker walking into the hospital. "Can I help you, Miss?"

Evelyn slightly jumped at the sound of the women's voice and turned quickly to see the women looking at her in concern for a moment before spotting Penelope and Parker over her shoulder. Evelyn leaned up against the desk. "We're here to see Alan Tracy. We were told he was brought here a few hours ago."

The women nodded and looked down at her computer. Evelyn watched as her mouth the name 'Tracy' as she looked at the computer screen. "Yes, Alan Tracy. Looks like they are getting ready to discharge him and Mr. Hackenbacker, for their chemical burns were minor. Second floor, room 217."

"Thanks," Evelyn replied as she turned away from the desk and hurried to the elevators on the far side of the room. She pushed the button to call the elevator and luckily only had to wait a few seconds before it arrived.

She quickly stepped inside with Lady Penelope and Parker right behind her. She pushed the button for the second floor and the doors slid closed. Evelyn pursed her lips as she left the elevator move to take them to the next floor. The elevator soon came to a stop and the doors slid open to reveal a long, white hallway with a few nurses and doctor's bustling about. She moved quickly to her left and began counting the numbers until she reached the one she wanted. The door was closed so she gently knocked before twisting the handle and pushing it open.

She smiled in relief when she spotted Alan sitting on the hospital bed with a nurse checking the bandages on the back of his neck and his arms. The four occupants of the room looked towards her and smiled. Jeff had been sitting in the chair beside the bed and Scott stood next to him but both moved towards the door to greet Evelyn.

Scott reached her first and pulled her into a tight hug which she gladly returned. "How you doing, Evie?"

She looked up at him and gave a small shrug. "Better now."

"Good," he replied before letting her go so their father could hug her. Though he too embraced her tightly, she did not. A part of her was still upset with him from their argument in August when he had allowed Gordon to join International Rescue after his accident but not her. It was after this argument that she decided to move to Boston for classes instead of just taking them online on the island.

If her father had noticed her half-hearted response to his hug she didn't know, for when he released her he smiled warmly at her. "Good to see you, Evelyn."

She only smiled and nodded in response before looking towards the only one younger than her in the family sitting on the bed. The nurse moved away from him and she moved forward with a small grin on her face. He responded with a small grin of his own. "Hey, Evie."

"How ya doing, sprout?" she asked, resting a hand gently on his shoulder as she was not entirely sure where exactly he had bandages.

"Been better," he replied, his small grin falling as he glanced over her shoulder to where Penelope was talking with their father and Scott. Evelyn noticed that Scott now held her duffle. 

She turned back to Alan and ruffled his hair blond hair. "Well, you got to do what every kid has dreamed of. Set fire to a school."

Alan's smile returned which prompted her to continue. 

"I mean, I would love to blow up my English classroom. The teacher is such an," she heard her father clear his throat behind her and she slapped a fake smile on her face and glanced over at him. "Wonderful man! That's what I was gonna say."

Her father raised an eyebrow at her while over his shoulder Scott looked like he was having a hard time hiding a laugh. Alan, on the other hand, didn't hide it at all and his loud laughter soon filled the room. Alan smiled at his sister as his laughed began to subside. "You never were a very good liar, Evie."

"Ha, ha, ha," she replied sarcastically, reaching over to ruffle his hair again. 

Jeff shook his head at his two youngest and Scott was now laughing behind him. "Come on you two, time to go. The nurse just headed to check Fermat over before they release him. Though she is probably done by now."

"S-s-she is," stuttered a voice from the doorway. The occupants of the room turned to see Brains and his son Fermat standing in the doorway to the room. Brains had his hands resting on his son's shoulders. Like Alan, Fermat too had bandages on his arms.

Jeff smiled towards the twelve-year-old in the doorway as Evelyn helped Alan off the bed and put an arm around his shoulders. "You guys ready to go home?"

The answer was a unanimous yes. With that Brains and Fermat moved into the hallway as the four Tracy's moved towards the doorway. 


	4. Home for the Holidays

**Chapter Three- Home for the Holidays**

  
Evelyn sat next to Alan on the flight to the island while Fermat sat with his father and Scott and Jeff were in the cockpit. Evelyn spent three hours of flight time talking to Alan about school and listening to her IPod as she watched the clouds fly by. Before she knew it, she was able to see the island the Tracy family called home and smiled as the plane began to prepare to land.

She glanced over at her younger brother to see that he too was smiling as the plane touched down on Tracy Island. Though she had moved to her own apartment in Boston five months prior, it wasn't home. Home for Evelyn and her family was the island. She knew that Alan felt the same way as she did, though he liked school a lot less than her.

Once the plane was safe inside the hanger on the island and Jeff had begun to run the post flight checks, Scott entered the cabin to open the door. As Alan grabbed his backpack, which was covered in soot from the chemistry lab, Evelyn grabbed her backpack and duffle and moved towards the door.

Roughly fifteen minutes after exiting the plane the group found themselves entering the living room of the villa on Tracy Island. Three people had been sitting on the couch waiting for them and stood when they entered the room and made their way over to the group in the doorway.

Evelyn gapped at her second eldest brother before dropping her duffel on the ground to hug him. "John! What are you doing here? I thought you were up on Five?"

"Gordon and Virgil brought down for the holidays," the blond replied as they hugged tightly. The last time they had seen each other in person had been just after her and Gordon's birthday in early August. Her father had surprised her by bringing him down. Though John was quieter then Evelyn, both of them were the more studious of the Tracy family.

Evelyn and John looked over at where Virgil and Gordon were greeting Alan, who was suddenly looking put out at something they were saying to him. Gordon looked away from Alan and his smile brightened when he spotted Evelyn. He nudged Virgil with his elbow, who quickly glared at him before he too looked over at Evelyn. Both left a now relieved looking Alan to greet Evelyn.

"How ya doing little sis," Gordon greeted as he hugged her tightly, before she pulled away to glare at him. 

"Little? We're only ten minutes apart!"

"But that still means you're younger than me," he replied as Virgil tried to keep a straight face when hugging Evelyn as she continued to glare at Gordon.

"Dinner's ready!" called Onaha from outside, distracting all those in the house for a moment. Evelyn rolled her eyes at Gordon before looking back to where she had left her duffel only to see that it was gone.

"Guys, did you see where my bag went?" Evelyn asked. "Because I could have sworn I left it right here."

"Dad took yours and Alan's stuff up to your rooms," Scott answered. Evelyn nodded as he put an arm around her shoulder and the group began to make their way outside where Onaha had set a plate of steaks on the table. The moment Evelyn approached the table and smelled the food, she was suddenly starving.

She sat down between Gordon and John, dumping her backpack behind her chair as Jeff walked out of the house and towards the table. She and her brothers all had steaks on their plates and were passing around the vegetables when Jeff sat down.

"Thank the lord for real food," Evelyn muttered as she began to cut her steak. John looked over at her in curiosity but didn't say anything. That was one embarrassing story she was in no hurry to explain to them. Though she was sure John would be asking her about it judging by the look she was getting from him.

* * *

About half an hour after dinner found Evelyn in her room unpacking what was in her duffel, including her family's Christmas gifts which she quickly stowed underneath her bed. As she plugged her laptop into its charger there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in!" she called as she set down the thin computer on her desk. The door opened and John walked into her room.

"So," he began as he moved to sit down on her bed."What was with the comment at dinner?"

Evelyn leaned back against her desk and clasped her hands before her, looking everywhere but her brother. "Well, not long after I moved into my apartment I tried to cook spaghetti. Needless to say it didn't go well at all. The noodles were crunchy; I burnt the sauce, and somehow managed to set to oven on fire. I've been eating takeout ever since."

"What was in the oven?" he asked. 

Evelyn finally risked looking towards him and saw that he had a small smile on his face. "It was garlic bread when I put it in."

"I think it's official," John began, standing up from the bed and moving to stand right in front of her. Evelyn looked up at him in confusion. "You're worse than Scott when it comes to cooking."

"What exactly did Scott do?" she asked, not remembering an event when Scott had tried to cook.

"When he was thirteen, he tried to make a cake for mom's birthday. The cake exploded when he pulled it out of the oven," John explained, trying his best to control his laughter. Evelyn confusion turned into pure laughter and she leaned forward against John as they both laughed.

"What did he put in it that made it explode?" Evelyn managed to ask through her laughter.

"We will probably never know," he replied. "And truth be told, I'm not sure I want to."


	5. Merry Christmas

**Chapter Four-Merry Christmas  
** **December 25, 2019**

Christmas dawned bright and warm on Tracy Island and the occupants were glad at the lack of rescue calls that gave them the opportunity to spend time together as a family. Evelyn had been awoken by Gordon banging on her bedroom door and yelling for her to get up. After a few threats to sit on him, she finally got up, opened the door and smacked him with her pillow.

She then set it back on her bed and followed him out into the living room of the villa in the tank top and old cheerleading shorts that served as her pajamas. The tree had been pulled out of storage and set up in the living room a few days after Evelyn had arrived. Underneath it was the gifts she had bought for her family.

She smiled in greeting as she walked into the living room, all hints of weariness gone as she sat down on the couch nearest the tree between John and Alan. Scott, Virgil, and Gordon were sitting on the floor beside the tree and Jeff was walking into the living room with a cup of coffee. He sat down on the couch on the opposite side of John and motioned to the boys on the floor to begin handing out the gifts.

Gordon pulled five small boxes from the off the top of the pile of gifts and passed them to whomever they were addressed to, one for all of them but Evelyn. She smiled as Gordon noticed this and looked towards her. "Yes, they're from me."

Each of them tore off the paper and opened their box to find a small, simple golden ring with a small colored stone set into the center of each of them. Scott's had a sapphire, John's an amber, Virgil's an emerald, Gordon's a ruby, Alan's a jonquil, and Jeff's a fire opal. On the inside of the ring, 'Tracy' was engraved. "I found them by accident one day. They were a set of seven. All I had to do was have them sized and engraved."

"You have one too?" Alan asked as he slipped the ring onto his right ring finger.

Evelyn nodded. "It's in my room. Mine has an aquamarine set into it."

Gordon then passed Evelyn a rather large box that was extremely light. She looked towards him and he nodded in confirmation that it was from him. She quickly peeled off the paper and opened the box to find a large stuffed goose. She hugged it to herself and smiled towards her twin. "You're nothing but a big softy, you know that?"

"I know," he replied with a smug smile. From the box currently on his lap, he pulled a new pair of swim goggles out of a box. "I've been needing a new pair! Thanks, Scott!"

The next box handed to Evelyn was very small and light. She tore off the paper and gasped when she opened the box. She grabbed the chain of the necklace and held it up in the air before her. It was the image of Horus, the Egyptian sky god set in silver. "Who is this from?"

"Me," came John's voice from her left. As she put it around her neck, she smiled towards him. When the necklace was secured, she pulled him into a one-armed hug being careful of the growing pile of books on his lap. "Thanks, John."

"YES!" the two turned to looked at Virgil when he shouted. Where he sat on the floor between Scott and Gordon, he held a top of the line paint kit into the air.

Scott shook his head as he laughed, passing a large box to those on the couch. Alan took it from him and handed the heavy box to Evelyn."That's from me."

"Should I be scared Alan?" she asked sarcastically as she began to peel the paper off the package. Alan laughed and shook his head. As the paper came off, it revealed that inside the box was a pair of black and blue inline skates in her size.

"I remembered that you were complaining about how far apart some of your classes were and that whenever you missed the bus you had to walk so," he explained. Evelyn smiled fondly over at her little brother before ruffling his hair and pulling him into a one-armed hug.

"It's a great idea, Alan. Once I get back to Boston I'll be sure to use them," she replied as she placed the box at her feet. "Though I will need to practice. It's been years since I've skated and even then I had a hard time stopping."

"I remember that," Gordon commented. "It was Janice Miller's eleventh birthday party. You kept running into the wall."

"And if I remember right, you repeatedly fell on your butt because you kept trying to impress her," she responded with a smirk. A slight tinge appeared on Gordon's cheeks and he hurriedly went looking for another package for her to open. He soon found another small package and had it passed to her.

Evelyn opened the box to see a small golden locket with strange engravings on the face. She opened it to see one picture was of her and her brothers that had been taken on her and Gordon's birthday. The second photo was of her mother and father at their wedding with their parents beside them.

"That was your great grandmother's locket," Jeff explained from the other side of John, leaning forward to look over at Evelyn. She put the locket around her neck where it sat next to the necklace she had gotten from John.

"The one I was named after?" Evelyn asked. She had been named after her mother's grandmother while her middle name was the name of her mother's best friend. Jeff nodded."Yes, it was supposed to be given to you when you turned eighteen but when I found it I decided to update the one picture."

"Thanks, dad," she replied with a smile, leaning forward to see around John while absentmindedly touching both of the necklaces she now wore. Before the family could finish passing out the last of the gifts, the rescue alarm sounded.


	6. Those Left Behind

  **Chapter Five- Those Left Behind**  

The rescue turned out to be an 8.0 earthquake in Sichuan, China that had been felt all the way in Beijing and Shanghai. The damage was so extensive that it required all Thunderbirds available. So five minutes after they had been called, Evelyn and Alan watched as Thunderbirds One and Two took off from the island from where they watched in the living room.

Fermat and Tin-Tin had joined them shortly after the alarm had gone off. Brains was currently in Jeff's office, which had been transformed into Command and Control as soon as they reached the room and Tin-Tin's mother Onaha had quickly made four cups of hot chocolate for them to drink. They now lounged around the living room, the torn wrapping paper thrown away and all open gifts deposited in their owner's rooms while those unopened remained under the tree.

They had long since stopped watching the news reports of the earthquake and had settled down in the living room. Alan and Fermat sat on one couch talking while Tin-Tin had gone to the kitchen to get more hot chocolate. Evelyn sat down at the table on her laptop, looking through the classes being offered in the spring. Next to her sat a checklist of the classes she needed for her Bachelor's Degree, one of the last things she wanted to be looking at on Christmas.

"I still can't believe you're a history major," commented Alan as he set his mug down on the table before sitting down in the chair beside her.

"Believe it, little bro," she replied, glancing away from the screen for a moment to smile at him. "What's up?"

"Not much," he answered with a shrug. "Thought I'd come over and see what you were doing."

"Fermat started talking about school, huh?" she asked. It was common knowledge that her younger brother was not very studious while his best friend was. Add on the fact that they had no idea what school they would be attending in the spring after the chemistry lab accident almost two weeks prior and it became a subject that Alan liked to avoid.

"Yeah," he replied, taking a sip from his mug. "I just don't get the point of school."

"Oh come on. There has to be at least one subject you like," Evelyn stated as she turned away from the screen to look at him.

He thought for a few minutes before replying, "Nope."

"You're hopeless," she commented, ruffling his hair before turning back to her computer.

"There's just no point to it. I'm gonna be a Thunderbird anyway," he replied. Evelyn looked up from the screen and looked at him.

"Well, what if something happens and you can't? And you don't have your diploma. It's hard to get a job or get into college without it," she explained. 

Alan looked taken back by her question for a moment before starting to get up out of the chair. "Wow, I never expected a lecture from you."

"I'm not trying to lecture you, Alan," she replied, grabbing his wrist before he could get too far. She sighed and stood up from her own chair, releasing his wrist in the process. "I just want you to be realistic Alan because sometimes things don't work out the way you plan."

"Hey, guys. My mom made Christmas cookies," Tin-Tin greeted as she walked over to the table and set down a large plate of cookies. She looked between Evelyn and Alan for a moment before asking, "Am I interrupting something?"

Evelyn glanced over at Alan before sitting back down and grabbing a cookie. "Nope. These look fantastic."

"Yeah, we just finished," Alan stated a bit coolly before leaving the two girls at the table and walking back to where Fermat was sitting. Evelyn groaned and shook her head.

"I did interrupt something, didn't I?" Tin-Tin asked as she sat down at the table. 

Evelyn sighed and shook her head. "No, it finished long before you walked over."

Evelyn took a bite of the cookie as she looked back to her computer screen. She smiled as she swallowed before smiling over the top of the screen at Tin-Tin. "Your mom is a brilliant cook."

"I'll tell her you said that," Tin-Tin replied with a smile, glancing down at the paper Evelyn was now writing on. "Honors history?"

"The only honors class I'll ever be eligible for," answered Evelyn before taking another bite of her cookie. The sound of rockets approaching the island informed them of the rest of the Tracy family's return.

Tin-Tin stood from her chair looked out towards the pool where Thunderbird One was preparing to land in its silo. "I'd better go tell mom to fire up the oven again. I'm sure that they'll be hungry."

"Knowing my brothers, I'm positive they'll be hungry," Evelyn replied as the Malayan girl left her at the table and walked towards the kitchen. 

_Now for the fun part_ , Evelyn thought as she clicked on the 'register' button on her computer screen.  _Listening to them going on and on about the mission for the next few hours._

As she starting closing down her computer, she caught sight of the news headline. 'Thunderbirds Help Save Thousands After Deadly Quake.' With a sigh, she closed the window and shut down her computer, stuffing another cookie into her mouth. 


	7. Wharton's

**Chapter Six- Wharton's  
** **January 6th, 2020**

Two and a half weeks after Christmas found John backup on Thunderbird Five and Evelyn, Alan, and Fermat being flown back to school on Tracy 1. Jeff had found a new school for Alan to go to; Wharton's Academy, an all boy's boarding school just outside of Boston. When Jeff had told Evelyn that the school was just a few blocks from where she lived, she had laughed and ruffled Alan's hair. She knew of the school as several of her male classmates had graduated from there.

The first stop after landing in Boston was Wharton's as Evelyn had insisted on going with them, using the argument that her first class wasn't until ten so she had plenty of time to accompany them to the school. As the rented limo pulled into the campus, Evelyn made the comment, "Well sprout, now I can visit you on your free days."

Alan only smiled over at her. She knew that he didn't want to be here or any school period. It seemed her attempt at Christmas to get him to think had failed. As they got out of the limo outside of the main building they were greeted by a woman who was very familiar to Evelyn. "Ms. Connors? I know you said you worked at a school but I didn't know you worked here."

"Hello Evelyn," she greeted, the older brunette shaking her hand in greeting. "You never asked where I worked; you simply asked what I did."

"How do you two know each other?" Alan asked, looking back and forth between the two.

"Evelyn lives in the apartment across from me," Ms. Connors replied and smiled towards Alan and Fermat. "So you must be our new students. Welcome to Wharton's."

"Yes this is my son Alan and Hiram's son Fermat," Jeff stated, motioning to the two boys beside him. Brains stood behind Fermat and had his hands on his son's shoulders.

"Pleasure to meet you boys," she smiled towards Alan and Fermat. Fermat smiled back but Alan just continued to frown at the situation. "Now if you will follow me to the main office, I have your schedules and room keys."

The group of five followed her into the building through a large set of double doors. Once inside the building, she led them to a door with the sign 'main office' hung above it. She opened it first and stepped back to allow them to enter before her. They entered to find a large room with wood paneling and a large desk sat a few feet from the door. On the desk as the nametag 'Samantha Connors, administrative assistant.'

Samantha walked around the desk and grabbed a few papers off of it before offering them to their respective owners. "These are your class schedules. Breakfast is served from five to seven thirty. Lunch is served from eleven to one and dinner starts a five thirty."

Alan and Fermat took the schedules from her as she looked down at her desk for a moment and game back up with two key cards. "These are your dorm keys, one for each of you. Your dorm room is printed at the top of your schedule and it looks like you two are on the second floor in dorm one, room two twenty-five."

As Alan and Fermat took the keys, she bent down over her desk once more before coming up with four sheets of paper and handed them to Jeff and Brains. "The first one is a calendar for the year, showing holidays and breaks. The second is a form you need to fill out, telling the school who besides yourselves is allowed to pick them up."

"Thank you, Ms. Connors," Jeff replied.

"Glad to help Mr. Tracy. Now I must dash, I have a staff meeting I must get to before classes start. Evelyn, I'll see you this evening," with a smile towards them, she grabbed some papers off her desk before disappearing further into the main office.

"Now, let's get you two settled in before we have to leave to take Evelyn to her apartment," Jeff stated, clasping Alan on the shoulder as the group began to leave the office. This statement made Evelyn groan, reminding her that her first class, Biology, began in less than two hours. 


	8. Home Away From Home

  **Chapter Seven- Home Away From Home**

Not long after helping Alan and Fermat settle into their new dorm, Jeff, Brains, and Evelyn left Wharton's Academy and had the limo drive them the short distance to Evelyn's apartment. When they reached the second floor of the building, Evelyn pointed out the doorway to the apartment that Samantha Connors lived in. After she entered the code on the keypad, the door unlocked and Evelyn opened the door, holding it open so her father and Brains could enter behind her.

The three were immediately greeted by a young black cat meowing loudly at them. Evelyn smiled at her and bent down to rub her head. "Hey, Nefi."

"So this is Nefertiti," Jeff stated as Evelyn stood up. She nodded before heading towards the bedroom, Nefertiti following her closely.

"What time is your class?" Jeff asked as Evelyn and the cat disappeared into the bedroom of the small apartment.

"Ten fifteen!" she called back. Jeff looked around the apartment and saw the various family photos she had set out. He spotted a clock that told him it was five till. 

Evelyn reappeared in the main room a few moments later wearing one of the new beanie's Scott had given her for Christmas; her backpack slung over her shoulder and was carrying her new rollerblades from Alan in the one hand. 

Jeff smiled as Nefertiti continued to trail after her. "You do have a helmet to wear with those, don't you?"

"I think so," she replied as she set her things on the couch in the living room before heading into the kitchen to check Nefertiti's food and water. 

Jeff followed after her a few minutes later and saw Evelyn standing over the sink refilling the water bowl. His eyes then spotted the blackened area of the kitchen that had once been an oven and widened in surprise."What happened?"

"What?" Evelyn asked, turning away from the sink to look at him in confusion. She turned off the water before following his gaze to the oven. "Oh. Um, I tried to cook garlic bread to go with the spaghetti I was cooking. And obviously failed."

"When did this happen?" he asked as he stepped closer to inspect the damage. He glanced over at Evelyn who was setting down the water bowl on the floor before turning to him. 

She looked thoughtful as she crossed her arms over her chest. "About a week after I moved in if I remember right."

"How come you never told me about this?" Jeff asked, motioning to the blacken remains of the oven. 

Evelyn sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's nothing dad."

"It's not nothing Evelyn. You could have burnt the building down!" he stated firmly.

"But it didn't. I was able to get it under control soon enough after it started that nothing major happened," she replied, feeling her temper rising quickly.

"I still should have been told right after it happened," Jeff responded. Evelyn huffed and rolled her eyes again. "Evelyn Nicole Tracy-"

Jeff was cut off from say more by Brains clearing his throat in the doorway to the kitchen. Jeff took a deep breath before turning to his good friend. "Yes, Brains?"

"M-Mr. Tracy. It is f-f-f-f ten o-five," Brains replied. 

Evelyn glanced at the microwave and swore at the time. Jeff reprehended her but she ignored him as she rushed past Brains and into the living room. 

She was grabbing her stuff and pulling on the roller blades as Jeff entered the room. "Why don't we give you a ride Evelyn?"

"I'd rather not dad," she replied coolly, not glancing up from the rollerblades to look at him. She stood and carefully made her was across the carpet to the door. With one hand on the knob, she glanced back at her father. "When you leave, make sure Nefi is well away from the door so she can't get out."

"Evelyn-"

"I gotta go, dad," she snapped, cutting him off as she opened the door and stepped into the wood floored hallway. Using the wall as a guide, she skated over to the elevator and pushed the call button. It arrived seconds later she skated inside, watching as the doors closed just as her father and Brains exited her apartment.

Evelyn sighed as the elevator began to take her down to the ground floor. She loved her father and hated it when they would argue, but it seemed ever since her accident that arguing was all they were doing anymore. Evelyn pulled out her cell phone to check the time and swore. She was going to be late on the first day of the new semester. Just great. Hopefully, she could get there rather quickly, it was just stopping once she got there that was the problem.


	9. Late on the First Day

**Chapter Eight- Late on the First Day**

Evelyn panted as she skated through the streets of Boston, her breath materializing in the cold air before her.  _One more block_ , she thought as she grabbed the light pole to stop at the signal.  _Just one more block._

As the sign across the street flashed that she was allowed to go, Evelyn pushed herself off the pole and speed across the crosswalk. After a few more minutes of skating, the entrance to the campus came into sight.  _Now, just have to get to the classroom._

She made a rough turn through the archway, narrowly avoiding a few students walking through it and ignored the jeers at her as she skated towards the science building. Halfway to the building, her foot found a crack in the pathway and it threw her off balance.

"Why now!" she yelled as she tried her hardest to regain her balance. She spotted David Mathews step onto the pathway a few feet in front of her. "Look out!"

He looked up from the book in his hands at her yell and his brown eyes widened. Unable to move out of the way in time, Evelyn ran into him, causing them both to fly to the ground. Evelyn pushed herself up into a sitting position and began to rub her lower back as she looked over at David. She pushed herself to her feet and careful skated over to where he lay. "Oh my God. I am so sorry! Are you okay?"

"You're actually talking to me today?" he replied sarcastically as he pushed himself up, ignoring her helping hand.

"What are you talking about?" she asked in confusion. She had been so worried about Alan; she had not really noticed him on the bus that day.

"Forget it, Tracy," he scoffed, grabbing his fallen book and continuing past her. "If you can't remember I'm sure not going to remind you."

Evelyn stared at him in confusion for a few monuments before remembering where she had been heading and cursing loudly. She turned and slowly skated the rest of the way to the science building as to not fall again. She knew she was already late and taking it slow as to not fall again wouldn't matter in the end.

She finally found the right classroom and hesitantly opened the door. She carefully stepped in on her stakes and stopped briefly at the door as all eyes turned towards her. The teacher Mr. Thomson, a tall man with graying brown hair and a large mustache stood in the front of the classroom and frowned at her from behind his large framed glasses. "And you are?"

"Evelyn Tracy," she replied, biting her lip. From the look she was getting from him, she knew she was in for it.

"Well, Miss. Tracy, you are ten minutes late. Hats are not permitted in the room and for God's sake take off the skates," he stated, walking away from the desk to look at her more closely. His gray eyes were calculating behind his glasses as he looked her up and down. "I thought your father would at least teach you the meaning of punctuality. Or if he couldn't at least one of your brothers."

"Are you gonna just tell me where my father went wrong while raising me all day or can I actually go to my seat?" she asked hotly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You may leave after that comment, Miss. Tracy. Show up Wednesday on time and with some proper manners or don't show up at all," he replied sharply before turning and heading back to the desk. He looked towards her once he reached the desk and asked. "Well, what are you still doing here? Out!"

Evelyn scoffed, turned around and skated out the door doing her best to slam it as loudly as she could as she left. She slowly began to skate her way towards the exit to the campus, having no choice but to go back to her apartment since her next class wasn't until two.

She was fuming the entire way back to her apartment. How dare he make a comment like that about her family? He didn't even know them! And she was positive that her little comeback to the teacher would spread around campus quicker than Thunderbird One flew to the site of a rescue.

Another thing she was positive about was that she was going to hate this class. Though she wasn't fond of science in the first place, a teacher that decided to have a go at her family made her loath the idea of going to the class come Wednesday. But she would go alright. She would go just to spit the man that called himself a teacher and would work her butt of the pass the class and prove him wrong.

 


	10. Late Night Chats

**Chapter Nine- Late Night Chats  
** **January 8th, 2020**

Only three days into the new semester and Evelyn already hated almost all her classes, all but honors history that is. She already had three papers assigned and she was sure she wanted to strangle Mr. Thomson. So it led to her sitting up before her computer in her pajamas at almost eleven at night, trying to finish the two-page paper she had been assigned in English on Monday.

She had her word program open on her laptop and a little less than a page written but that was all. Two pages describing what you know about British Literature in the 19th century. Mrs. Pacoli had told them she wanted to know what they had learned about the subject the previous semester. For Evelyn, that information had all left her head during the winter holiday.

Evelyn groaned and looked at the time. Eleven. Great, just great. From where she lay beside the computer, Nefertiti meowed. Minimizing her paper, she opened up her instant messenger and logged it. 

_Please be on, please be on_ , she thought as the window opened to show who on her list was currently on. John was shown as away, but then again it always showed him as that unless he was off of Thunderbird Five. She clicked on his name and a new window appeared.

**EgyptianGoose** : John, are you there?

Evelyn sighed as she watched the screen, hoping that maybe her second eldest brother was able to talk. He used the same time zone as the island and it was only around seven back there. Evelyn had just rubbed Nefi's head when the computer chimed.

**StarGazer** : Why are you up so late?

**EgyptianGoose** : Switching to webcam.

She clicked on the button near the top of the window causing a new window to open; the face of her second eldest brother appeared as her face simultaneously appeared on one of the computers of Thunderbird Five. She quickly expanded the small window to where it took up most of the screen.

"You're up late," he stated as he sat back in his chair.

"Two page English paper," she replied, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "And I don't even have a page."

"What's it on?" he asked.

"What we learned last semester about British Literature in the 19th century," she replied. Nefertiti meowed again and Evelyn leaned forward to rub her.

"Well, at least you can show that you tried," he commented. "How are your other classes?"

"Besides history, I hate them all. Especially Biology," she replied, growing angry just at the thought of Mr. Thomson.

"What happened?" asked John, leaning forward in his chair and resting his chin in his hand.

"The teacher is such a jerk. I was late on Monday and he told me off for my hat and my skates, then had the nerve to go after you guys for my attitude," she vented, her hands turning to fists in her frustration. "I told him off and he kicked me out for the day."

"What exactly did he say about us?" John asked, amazing Evelyn that he was still as calm as ever.

"I believe his exact words were 'I thought your father would at least teach you the meaning of punctuality. Or if he couldn't at least one of your brothers,'" she replied. "I only remembered it word for word because he pissed me off so much. After that, he told me to come on time today and have some manners or don't come at all."

"How many credits are you taking this semester?" he asked after a few moments sitting back in his chair looking like he was doing some hard thinking.

"Seventeen," she replied. She had registered for two more classes then what was required to be considered a full-time student and biology had been one of them so she could just get it out of the way.

"Then why don't you drop it and take it next semester with a different teacher," he suggested.

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "No, I want to stick it out and pass the class just to piss him off."

"You getting mad at him every other day isn't going to help," John commented. "Probably just make you more stressed out than you already are."

"I am not stressing," she replied quickly. John raised an eyebrow at her response and Evelyn shoulder's sagged in defeat. "Okay, so maybe I am. I hate it when you do that."

"Do what. Raise my eyebrow?" he asked, pretending that he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Do that Jedi mind trick thing," she replied, waving her hands about her head to show her meaning.

"'Jedi mind trick?'" he repeated with a laugh.

"You know what I mean," she responded while rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he replied, his laughter beginning to fade. "And it's not mind reading or 'Jedi' tricks, I just know you."

"If you were down here right now I'd either hug you or smack you," she commented, which just made him laugh again. Evelyn turned away from the screen to try and hide a yawn.

"Hey. I saw that," John stated, pointed to her. "I know you're tired so shut down the computer and get to bed. It's almost midnight back there."

"Fine," she grumbled. "I'll talk to you later John."

"Night Evie," and he waved to the monitor as she clicked closed the web chat window. She then shut the laptop and moved to the bed behind her and crawled under the covers. She would print the little she had written for the assignment in the morning.


	11. Nothing But A Dream

**Chapter Ten- Nothing But A Dream**    
 **January 23rd, 2020**

Evelyn sighed as she closed the door of her apartment behind her. It was only three weeks into the semester and it felt as though it had been three months. Smiling down at Nefertiti at her feet she walked into her bedroom, dropped her backpack on her desk and sat down on her bed, beginning to pull off her skates.

She had gotten a bit better and didn't fall or run into people nearly as often anymore. History had proven to be her favorite class, especially since they were starting to get into ancient Egypt. Her other classes were not going so well and she was barely passing especially Biology. Mr. Thomson seemed to jump at the chance to rile her up so he could kick her out for the day.

And it seemed John had been right once again. She would spend hours fuming at Mr. Thomson that she couldn't concentrate on her homework or her afternoon Algebra class, in which she was barely keeping up. She was beginning to get bags under her eyes because she would stay up half the night studying and she knew that John had noticed them when she had called him for help on yet another paper the night before.

Dropping the skates to the floor at the end of her bed, she stood up and headed out into the living room where she collapsed on the couch. She hadn't felt this exhausted since her first cheerleading practice in middle school. Laying down into a comfortable position on the couch, Evelyn grabbed the television remote off the coffee table and pushed the 'power' button.

She began to flip through the channels, searching for one that was showing a movie. It was now early evening and the shows would be turning to movies that people would settle down and watch when they got home from work. Though in order to get to those channels, she had to scroll through the news channels.

Evelyn usually just hit the number of a certain channel if she knew something she liked was on, but tonight she just happened to pause on the one news channel that was allowed to record the Thunderbirds when they were on a rescue. And apparently tonight, they were helping put out a wildfire that had started that afternoon in California.

Evelyn watched as the camera showed one of her brothers driving the Firefly back into the belly of Thunderbird Two. The camera swung around to show the blond reporter that always covered the rescues her family performed. She smiled towards the camera as Thunderbird One took off behind her. "The Thunderbirds have done it again. Using their equipment they were able to save thousands of homes in the San Bernardino mountains from the approaching fire. We now turn to Barbara in the studio, who has news about the manhunt for the arsonist who started this fire."

Suddenly not in the mood to watch anything on T.V., Evelyn pushed the 'power' button a second time and the screen turned to black. She sat up on the couch and dropped the remote back onto the coffee table before standing up and moving back into her room. She glanced over at to where her backpack sat on her desk, not really in the mood to do homework.

Evelyn sat down at the edge of her bed before letting out a groan and falling back against the mattress. Nefertiti meowed as she walked into the room after her owner. Evelyn rolled over onto her right side and looked down at over the edge of the mattress at Nefertiti. She meowed before jumping up onto the bed beside Evelyn and lying down next to her. Evelyn smiled as she reached down and rubbed the young cat's sleek black fur. She arched her back slightly against Evelyn's hand and began to purr.

Evelyn's eyes wandered over to the painting hung above her desk. Virgil had given it to her for Christmas. It showed the great pyramids at sunset with the image of Horus painting lightly inside the sun. How he had seemed to capture the majestic beauty about them she did not know, but he somehow had.

Evelyn looked away from it and to the picture of her, her father, and her brothers that had been taken on her and Gordon's birthday, along with the picture that was in the locket around her neck. It was in that moment that Evelyn realized that her dream of becoming a member of International Rescue was just that; a dream.

 


	12. As Close As She'll Ever Get

**Chapter Eleven- As Close As She'll Ever Get  
** **January 25th, 2020**

Evelyn sighed as she sat in the taxi she had called to take her to the outskirts of town. The cab driver looked just as tired as she was; then again it was only six in the morning. All weariness began to fade when the driver turned onto a dirt road not far from Wharton's and the large field of green grass came into view. Out in the middle of the field sat two large trucks with small enclosed trailers attached to them.

"You can stop right here," she stated, sitting forward in her seat to pass the driver the money she owed him. She then opened the door, grabbed her backpack and walked towards the two trucks. Two young men and one woman were standing beside the trucks and smiled as Evelyn approached.

"Good to see you Evelyn," greeted the elder of the two men as he stepped forward to greet her.

"Good to see you too Sam," she replied. The eldest of the three was Samuel Connors, her neighbor Samantha's older brother. The woman was his wife Jessica and she had an arm around her son Brad's shoulders. Samantha had introduced them when she learned of Evelyn's desire to fly.

"Brad, can you start pulling them out please," Sam stated to his son. Brad nodded his head in agreement before heading around to the first trailer and opening it. Sam watched him disappear inside the trailer before turning back to Evelyn. "Chris is unable to join us today. So would you be interested in going solo today?"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed without a second thought. Sam smiled at her enthusiasm. "Then go suit up while Brad and I pull them out."

"Alright," Evelyn replied. She moved over to where Jessica had pulled a few lawn chairs out of the bed of the truck and set them up. Evelyn smiled at her as she set her backpack down in one of the chairs and unzipped it. "How are you this morning Jessica?"

"Doing well. How about you?" she asked as Evelyn pulled a silver one piece insulated flight suit out of her backpack. Evelyn sat down in one of the other chairs and began to pull her sneakers off.

"Been better. This semester is killing me," Evelyn replied as she got her shoes off. She then grabbed the suit and began to pull it on over her clothes. Once it was over her legs she grabbed the boots from her backpack and slipped them on.

"I thought you looked a little paler this year," Jessica commented as Evelyn stood from the chair and pulled the suit on over her arms before zipping it up. 

She then looked towards Jessica is disbelief. "Is it really that obvious that I'm having a bad year so far?"

"Yes," she replied with a nod. Jessica then turned back to the truck and opened the rear door. Out of it, she pulled a silver helmet with a built in radio so she could communicate up in the air and a pair of goggles sat inside of it. As she handed the helmet to Evelyn she said, "But at least you have this to get your mind off school for a little while."

Evelyn nodded in reply. Sam then called from the other side of the trailer, "We're ready!"

Jessica smiled at Evelyn before grabbing a bag out of the back of the truck. "Now it's their turn to suit up. Have fun up there Evelyn."

"I will," Evelyn replied as Sam and Brad walked around from behind the trailers.

"Jessica, why don't you go help Evelyn get ready for takeoff as we suit up," Sam suggested as she handed him the bag. Jessica nodded before kissing her husband on the cheek and heading off with Evelyn to the other side of the trailers where sat three ultralight trikes similar to the one used in the movie  _Fly Away Home_.

Evelyn and Jessica walked over to the first of the three which was silver in color with a bright blue wing. Evelyn sat down in the seat and got comfortable. She then pulled the goggles out of the helmet before pulling the helmet on. Evelyn then pulled the goggles on over the helmet before inserting her hands into the gloves attached to the triangular control bar.

Static crackled over the radio before Evelyn heard through the headset, "Check one, two. Can you hear me, Evelyn?"

Evelyn smiled as she pushed the respond button on the control bar. "Loud and clear Jessica."

"Here come the guys. How's your gas?" Jessica asked through the radio. 

Evelyn looked down at the gauge below her. "Looks full."

"Then you're good to go," Jessica stated, patting Evelyn's helmet as Sam came up to her with his own helmet in his hands.

"Okay, just circle around the field until we get up into the air behind you," he instructed. Evelyn nodded that she understood. "I'm gonna flip the switch then once I'm out of the way, your good to go."

"Okay," she replied as he moved towards the rear of the ultra light. She glanced back as he flipped the switch above the engine that would let the gas in the tank reach the engine. She then watched as he ran off to stand beside Jessica about ten feet away.

"Hit it, Evelyn," Jessica stated through her walkie-talkie. Evelyn pulled one hand out of her glove and reached forward to hit the switch she knew would start the engine behind her. She replaced her hand into the glove as the blades began to whirr behind her and the frame of the craft began to move forward.

After about twenty feet she had reached her maximum ground speed and pushed forward on the bar. A huge smile erupted on her face as the small craft lifted off the ground and climbed into the sky. Once she was roughly a hundred feet of the ground she leveled out the craft. She then pushed the bar to the right and leaned to the left, causing the ultra light to turn to the left as she began to make a wide circle around the field.

She spotted Wharton's just beyond the trees and wondered if her younger brother was watching the small planes flying in the distance. If he had he would probably tell her all about it, not knowing that she was one of the pilots. She heard Jessica give the all clear as Sam began to take off distantly. She vaguely remembered a conversation with her mother about flying like this and smiled.

"I did it, mom," she whispered to herself as she turned the craft left once more and saw Sam's plane lift into the air at the other end of the field. Though the cold air beat against the exposed skin on her face and she knew her father would probably kill her if he ever found out about this, she was content just to be up on the air for the time being. No matter how short of the flight lasted; she would take full advantage of it for she knew this would probably be the closest she got to flying.

 


	13. Happy Birthday Alan

**Chapter Twelve- Happy Birthday Alan  
** **February 8th, 2020**

When Gordon had called early that morning and told both Evelyn and Alan that he and Jeff would not be making it out for Alan's fourteenth birthday, Evelyn had made a last minute call to Sam for a favor. And thankfully for Evelyn, he had agreed to it. 

So Evelyn now found herself standing in the front office of Wharton's Academy with her backpack slung over her shoulder, talking to Samantha as she waited for Alan and Fermat.

"So who's driving you three there?" Samantha asked from where she sat at her desk.

"Taxi. It's still sitting outside with the meter running," Evelyn replied. Behind her, the door creaked open and Alan and Fermat walked into the main office. Evelyn smiled brightly at them and moved away from the desk to greet them. "Hey, Fermat. Happy Birthday, Alan."

"Thanks, Evie," Alan responded as Evelyn pulled him into a quick hug.

"Ready to go?" Evelyn asked, ruffling her brother's hair as she released him. Both he and Fermat nodded in reply. Evelyn looked back and smiled at Samantha. "I should have them back around two or three."

"Have fun you three, and happy birthday Alan!" Samantha called after them as they walked out the door and towards the front of the school where a taxi sat waiting.

Evelyn ushered them towards the car and told them to get in first before sliding in herself. As she closed the door, she told the driver, "You know where to go."

Alan and Fermat looked over at her in confusion. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," she replied with a smirk as the taxi began to pull away from the Academy. That seemed to satisfy them on the short drive to the nearby field where Sam, Jessica, and Brad waited; the three ultralights hidden behind the trailers. 

When the taxi came to a stop, Evelyn paid the driver what she owed before climbing out after her brother and his best friend.

As the car drove off and Sam, Jessica, and Brad approached them, Alan and Fermat looked around the field in confusion. "What are we doing here?"

"You'll see," Evelyn replied in a sing-song voice as she moved forward the meet Sam halfway, with Alan and Fermat following behind her.

"Hello, Evelyn. Good to see you again. These two must be Alan and Fermat," Sam smiled as he reached them.

"Yep. Thank you again for doing this on such short notice for Alan's birthday," she responded, setting a hand on Alan's shoulder as she stepped back beside him. "Alan, Fermat this is Sam Connors, Samantha's older brother. And this is his wife Jessica and their son Brad."

Jessica and Brad both smiled towards the two boys as Evelyn motioned to them. Sam looked towards his wife and son for a moment and nodded. The two turned around and walked to the other side of the trailers. Sam then turned back to them and said, "I'm sure you two would like to know why Evelyn has brought you here."

"Y-yes," Fermat replied as Alan nodded beside him. Sam turned around and motioned for the three of them to follow. 

They walked around to the other side of the trailers and Evelyn smiled when she heard a pair of gasps from beside her. Jessica and Brad appeared carrying two small silver flight suits with matching helmets and goggles.

"Flying?" Alan asked in disbelief as he looked over at Evelyn in excitement. 

Evelyn smiled and nodded. Alan and Fermat glanced at each other in excitement.

"Let's get suited up," Evelyn stated and she, Alan, and Fermat walked over to where Jessica and Brad were standing with the two suits for them. 

A few lawn chairs were set behind them and as Alan and Fermat got their suits Evelyn sat down in a chair and began to pull off her shoes. Alan and Fermat joined her a few moments later and began to follow her lead.

"So, how long have you been doing this?" Alan asked. He and Fermat began to pull off their shoes as Evelyn began to pull the flight suit up to her waist before sitting back down to put on her boots.

"About a month after I moved into my apartment Samantha invited me over to dinner. We got to talking and somehow the conversation turned to flying and she told me of Sam. I said something like 'I would love to do that' and so she put me in contact with him. My first solo flight was in January," she explained as she stood up and pulled the suit on the rest of the way as the two boys pulled on their boots.

"I'm guessing dad doesn't know," he stated as he tied the last lace on his boot. 

She nodded as he and Fermat stood up and pulled the suits on the rest of the way. "Pretty much."

Sam and Brad came over to them already suited up and Sam handed Evelyn her helmet and goggles. "Okay, so Brad is going to be the lead flyer. Evelyn, you can teach your brother and I'll go up with young Fermat here. Sound good?"

Evelyn, Alan, and Fermat nodded. Brad moved away from his group and over to his ultra light as Sam took Fermat by the shoulder and led him towards his. 

Evelyn put a hand on Alan's shoulder as she smiled down at him. "Ready to fly sprout?"

"You know it!" he replied. Evelyn squeezed his shoulder and began to lead him towards her ultra light. She climbed into the back seat and motioned for him to sit in the front. 

Once they were both in and had their helmets on, she pushed the talk button that had been placed on the upper part of the triangular control bar that was designated for the second passenger of the craft. "Hey Sam, did you guys already switch the gas on?"

The radio crackled for a few moments before Sam replied, "Yes. Brad's already in the air so you two go ahead."

"Okay," she replied. "Alan, see the switch in front of you that is just above the fuel gauge? Flip it."

"Okay," he responded as he reached forward and flipped the switch before putting his hands into the gloves on the bar. Behind Evelyn, the blades began to whirr and push the craft forward.

"Now in order to turn right, you need to push the left and lean right," she instructed. Alan did as she told him and the craft turned to the right. "Now do the opposite to turn left."

Alan did so and the craft turned left before beginning to go straight again. "Okay. Now keep the bar straight Alan and push up."

He did as he was told and pushed the bar forward. The craft lifted off from the ground and she heard Alan give a yell of excitement before he pushed down the button on the bar. When he spoke, his voice was ecstatic. "This is awesome!"

Evelyn laughed and pressed down her talk button. "Happy birthday, sprout!"

 


	14. Help Interrupted

**Chapter Thirteen- Help Interrupted  
** **February 13th, 2020**

Evelyn sighed as she closed her Biology book in satisfaction. Mr. Thomson has assigned eight questions on the latest chapter and the response had to be at least two paragraphs in length. She looked to the answers she had typed on her laptop and smiled. That would show him. Nefertiti meowed as she hopped up onto the desk and lay down on the now closed book.

Evelyn reached over to rub the cat's head as she began to re-read the answers she had written. The further she got the less sure about them she became. 

Would it really show that jerk that she wasn't just and spoiled rich brat like he thought she was? As she finished reading through the last answer she groaned and leaned her head back. No, no it would not.

She brought her head back up and smiled sadly at Nefertiti. "Sorry, Nefi. You gotta move."

As she maneuvered the black cat off her book, she had a feeling she may just be feeling paranoid about her answers. She stopped trying to push Nefi off the think book and turned back to the computer. 

She minimized the window she had typed the answers in and went to the start menu with the intent of opening her instant messenger. As she did so, she caught sight of her latest computer background.

It was of her and Alan on his birthday the week before when she had taken him and Fermat and taught them both how to fly an ultralight. 

After landing that afternoon, she had taken the two boys to the restaurant of Alan's choice for lunch. They had taken this picture in the parking lot as they walked to the sidewalk to call a cab.

She smiled at the picture as she clicked on the messenger icon and program opened up. As always, John's name was shown as away but she clicked on it and opened a new window.

**EgyptianGoose** : Hey John, are you able to talk?

She tapped her fingers against the desk as she waited for him to answer. If he was able to answer, that is. She smiled as the computer chimed and his response appeared.

**StarGazer** : Hey Evie. What's up?

**EgyptianGoose** : I'll tell you on webcam.

She clicked the web chat button and instantly her second eldest brother appeared in the newest window. She expanded the window before getting straight to the point of her call. "I need help."

"What kind of help?" he asked, leaning forward in his chair up on Thunderbird Five.

"Biology," she replied. "The jerk gave us eight questions on the latest chapter. The answers have to be two paragraphs or more and I was wondering if you could look over what I've written and tell me if it sucks or I'm just being paranoid."

"Sure. Just attach it to the chat," he answered. "You do remember how to do that don't you?"

"Yes I remember how to attach documents to a chat," she replied as she clicked on the attach icon and selected the answers to her Biology assignment. She had only remembered how to attach documents to the chat after having John help her several times with homework the previous semester.

"Got it. Downloading now," he stated a few seconds after she had clicked the 'okay' button and sent the document to him. He leaned back in his chair as the document took a minute to download. "So, you doing any better? I can still see the bags under your eyes so I'm assuming no."

"You assume right master Jedi," she replied with a small smirk that disappeared as his face became concerned. 

"Has he kicked you out again yet?"

"No. I somehow managed to hold my tongue when he decided I was nothing but a spoiled rich brat," she responded, her hands turning to fists.

"He said that?" John asked in disbelief.

"Basically. He just used a lot more words to say it," she replied. How one man could take such a simple phrase and turn it into a lecture was unbelievable.

"I should report that guy," John muttered as he leaned back in his chair.

"No," Evelyn replied firmly. "He'll know it was one of you and he will think that he's gotten to me."

"But he has, Evie. I can tell that you're beginning to get stressed out," he replied, leaning forward in his chair once more and doing something on the computer at his end.

"I'll be okay John," she replied though her brother didn't look too convinced at her answer. "Look, Mondays a holiday and spring break is just over a month away. I'll come home and relax then."

"Okay," he replied slowly, still not seeming too convinced. The truth was she wasn't sure she could make it that long before breaking either. 

Before he could say anything else, the rescue alarm was heard over the webcam. She saw John move away from the screen briefly before coming back. "I gotta go Evie."

"I know. Wait, what about my answers?" she asked as she saw him begin to reach forward to close the web chat.

"It looks good Evie. You're just being paranoid about it," he replied quickly.

"Thanks. I'll talk to you-" she began to saw but the window went black before closing, indicating that the person on the other end had closed it.

"Later," she whispered to herself. 

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. At least he had said she was just being paranoid about her answers. Evelyn then sat back up in her chair and maximized the assignment. She went to the top and clicked the print icon before closing it. As the printer began to print the document, she hoped that John was right and Mr. Thomson would see it as good work.


	15. Presidents Day

**Chapter Fourteen- Presidents Day  
** **February 17th, 2020**

"So, what do you want to do today?" Evelyn asked as she, Alan, and Fermat walked towards the taxi waiting outside of Wharton's.

"C-can we go f-flying?" Fermat asked as the three of them reached the taxi.

Evelyn shook her head and smiled sadly at him, "Nope. Sam and his family our out of town for the weekend. But we can go to the movies or something."

"How about the Mall?" Alan suggested as Evelyn closed the door of the cab.

"The Mall it is then," she replied with a smile. The driver nodded and as soon as the three of them were buckled in, began to move out the Academy.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later the taxi had dropped them off at the main entrance to the Cambridge Side Galleria. As the three of them walked in the doors, Evelyn glanced over at the two boys and asked, "So what do you want to do? Catch a movie or get something to eat?"

"Food," the two replied in unison. Evelyn rolled her eyes as they began to weave their way through the crowds going to the holiday sales and headed in the direction of the food court. After weaving their way through the throng of people and nearly losing each other twice, they arrived at the food court.

"So, where do you guys want to eat?" she asked as they stood off to the side of the entrance to the food court and looked around at the restaurants that were there.

A few minutes later the three of them found themselves standing in the line for Burger King. "Out of all the things here, you guys want a burger?"

"They have good fries," Alan answered with a shrug.

Evelyn thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. "That they do."

"Hi, welcome to Burger King! May I take your order?" asked the young girl behind the cash register.

"Yes, I'll take a Tendergrill Garden Salad with a medium drink," Evelyn replied before glancing back at Alan and Fermat to see what they wanted.

"I'll take a Double Whopper with cheese, large fries, and a medium drink, "Alan added, glancing down from the menu. The girl behind the register the looked to Fermat.

"W-whopper Jr. and m-m-middle sized drink," Fermat stuttered to the girl, who briefly gave him an old look but quickly looked down at the register when she caught Evelyn and Alan glaring at her.

"Your total comes out to ten dollars and fifty-two cents."

Evelyn reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet. From her wallet, she pulled out her debit card and handed it to the girl. The girl slid it through the scanner before handing Evelyn the keypad for her to enter her pin number.

Evelyn did it quickly and as the computer processed her card, the girl pulled three medium cups out from beneath the counter and passed them to Evelyn along with the receipt. "Your order is 102. Enjoy your meal."

Evelyn gave the girl one last glare before taking the cups and the receipt and heading towards the soda machines with Alan and Fermat. She pulled the three cups apart and handed one to each of them. "What's with the salad Evie?"

"I got a doctor's appointment next week," she replied as she filled her cup up with raspberry lemonade.

"Why?" Alan asked as began to put a lid on his drink and passed one over to Evelyn and Fermat.

"Well, John started on me last week on how he thinks' I'm stressing myself out at school. Then on Friday, Samantha caught me coming home late from the campus library where I was working on a paper. She suggested that I go to the doctor to be looked over," Evelyn explained as the moved off to the side to wait for their order to come up.

"W-well, you are e-e-e-showing some of the symptoms," Fermat commented, not noticing the growing glare Evelyn was giving him. "Insomnia, weight loss, muscle tension-"

"102!" called the young man from behind the counter as he set down a tray of food. Evelyn left the two boys and headed over to get their food.

"You're lucky they called our number before she killed you, Fermat," Alan commented as they watched Evelyn grab napkins for them and set them down on the tray.

"Irritability," Fermat stated quietly. Alan looked over at him with raised eyebrows as Evelyn returned with their food.

"Well, what are you standing around for?" Evelyn asked as she stopped before them. "Let's go find a place to sit."

Alan fell back beside Fermat as they followed Evelyn in search for a table. Alan leaned over towards him and asked quietly, "Is mood swings one of the symptoms?"

"Y-yes," he replied. The two exchanged a glance before catching up to Evelyn so she wouldn't get suspicious that they were talking about her.


	16. Doctors Advice

**Chapter Fifteen- Doctors Advice  
** **February 26th, 2020**  

Evelyn sighed as she glanced around the small exam room. The nurse had just left after taking her vitals and now she sat up on the examination table waiting for the doctor to come in. She jiggled her feet and began to tap her fingers on the paper that covered the table.

She glanced towards the door when she heard talking on the other side. A few seconds later the knob turned and the door was pushed open as Dr. Adam Jacobs entered the exam room.

"Hello Evelyn," he greeted as he closed the door behind him, not looking up from the papers in his hands. "I believe you were recommended to come here by a friend who believed you were showing signs of stress?"

"Yes," she replied with a nod. Dr. Jacob's sighed as he grabbed a stool from beside the wall and set it down before her. He then sat down on it and looked up from his papers at her.

"Well, your friend was correct. You seem to be showing several signs of stress. High blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, signs of insomnia, weight loss. And I'm sure that there are others that have yet to be noticed," he stated.

Evelyn sighed and let her shoulder's sag. They were right. John, Samantha, Fermat. She was stressed out.

"I guess I am," she said softly.

"Now what we need to do is stop it before it becomes any worse and you develop ulcers or heart disease," he began, glancing down at his charts briefly before looking back up at her. "Both of those you are currently at a very high risk of developing, which is very dangerous for someone your age."

"What can I do to stop myself from getting those?" she asked.

"First, I'm going to give you a medication to lower your blood pressure. Second, you need to take off at least two weeks from school," he explained.

"I can't do that! I'm already behind in my classes as it is!" she exclaimed. Missing school was not an option. If she did, she would probably fail a few of her classes.

"You're stressing out because you're behind. If you don't take a break, you'll only fall behind even more and you will most likely get an ulcer or heart disease," he replied firmly. "I'll write a note telling them you have to have more than a week off of school."

Evelyn sighed and put her head in her hands. What in the world was she going to do? There was no way she could afford to miss two weeks of school and spring break was a month away.

Wait spring break. Alan had two weeks off; the week she was off and the week before that. "What if I take two weeks off next month? Spring break is the last week of March. Maybe I could convince my teachers to let me take my midterms early so I could miss the week before also. That way I only miss one week instead of two."

"That'll work. I'll write a note telling them they have to let you take them early. No maybe's, and's or buts'. They have to," he replied. He went back to his paperwork and pulled out a blank sheet of paper and began to write on it.

"Give this to your teachers," he stated as he handed her the note before looking back down at the papers in his lap and scribbling something else. He then signed it and handed it to Evelyn. "And give this to Rachel, the nurse at the main desk. She'll call in the prescription to the pharmacy of your choice."

Evelyn folded up the note he had given her to show her teachers and put it into her purse. Dr. Jacobs stood up and put the stool back by the wall as Evelyn stood up off the exam table and moved towards the door with him behind her.

As she headed towards the front desk he moved the opposite direction, but not before calling after her, "Have a good, relaxing vacation, Evelyn."

Evelyn smiled politely in response as she continued on to the front desk. Relax on an island with five brothers, that would be interesting. What would be even more interesting was how she would get there without letting her father know that it because of the orders of her doctor. As she handed the prescription notice to the nurse behind the counter, she realized that getting to the island was just the second step.

No, the first step was telling her teachers and getting them to go along with the idea, especially Mr. Thomson. How she would get him to agree without failing her she had no idea. Then, again, he may enjoy the idea of not having to see her for two weeks instead of just one. She knew she would enjoy the distance from him, maybe even more then he would enjoy it.


	17. Thanks Professor

**Chapter Sixteen- Thanks Professor  
** **February 28th, 2020**

By Friday morning, Evelyn had been able to get the permission to take her midterms early from most of her teachers. All that was left now was to talk to her Biology and History teachers. She would talk to her History teacher in class that afternoon but now Evelyn had the difficult task of getting her Biology teacher to agreeing to take her midterms early.

She walked down the walkway towards the classroom, her skates hidden in her backpack. The last thing she needed to do was piss him off even more by arriving in those to ask for permission. 

She stopped before the door and placed her hand on the knob. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the door open and walked inside.

As there was still ten minutes until his Chemistry class started, only three students were in the classroom along with Mr. Thomson.

He stood behind the desk at the front of the room and looked towards the door when she walked in. "Miss. Tracy, what an unpleasant surprise. What on earth are you doing here so early?"

Evelyn bit her lip in order to bite back an angry retort. Mr. Thomson smirked and pushed up his glasses. "Ah, I see you are finally learning to hold that wagging tongue of yours. About time."

"I need to take my midterm early," she stated through gritted teeth, doing her best to keep her temper in check. She knew that if she argued with him he would never agree.

"And why is that? Why do you think you should get special treatment here?" he asked, moving away from the desk and walking towards her.

She reached into her front pant pocket and pulled out the folded note from Dr. Jacobs. She unfolded the paper before handing it to him. "Doctors orders."

"Well, well, well. Little Miss. Rich girl is suffering from stress," he mocked after reading the note and shoving it back towards her. Evelyn bit her tongue to keep from responding. His mustache twitched as he smiled. "I guess money can't buy everything, can it Miss. Tracy?"

Evelyn scoffed and rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Can I take them early or not?"

"What's the magic word that you have so rudely forgotten to say?" he teased in his posh accent.

"Can I take them early  _please_?" she asked through her teeth as she glared at him, her arms dropping to her side and her hands turning into fists as she fought to keep her temper in check.

"I suppose I must since it is the doctor's orders," he replied, turning away and walking back towards his desk. When he reached it, he turned back towards her and smirked. "I'll be rather glad that I won't have to see your face for two weeks instead of one. Come in on the morning of the twelfth and you can take the midterm then, though I doubt you will pass it."

"It's not over till the fat lady sings," she responded hotly before turning on her heel and walking to the door. When she had her hand on the door knob the looked back at him and said, "And trust me, Mr. Thomson, when I say the feeling is mutual."

"Goodbye Miss. Tracy," he called after her as she pushed open the door and walked out. Once the door closed behind her and smile formed on her face. 

The first hard part was over. She had gotten his permission and had managed to hold her tongue until the end of the conversation. She knew her History teacher would have no problem with it since her grade in that class was rather high, she just now had to get through her midterms and also find a ride to the island.

She then began to walk down the walkway towards the student center. She had an hour until her History class and it would be pointless to go to her apartment and then come back. 

As she walked towards the student center, she passed a blond girl in a bright pink mini skirt. Evelyn mental smacked herself for not thinking of it sooner. After history that afternoon, she would head straight back to her apartment. She had an overseas phone call to make.


	18. The Lady's Answer

**Chapter Seventeen- The Lady's Answer**  

Evelyn had quickly skated home after her History class and soon found herself entering her apartment. Her History teacher had given her permission to take her midterm early as she had expected and had been very understanding about the entire situation.

Even though this meant that the plan she had proposed to Dr. Jacobs was now possible, it meant now that she only had two weeks to study for the tests instead of three. But before she could hit the books, she had a phone call to make.

Evelyn smiled as she moved through her apartment on her skates before making it to her bedroom and put her backpack on her desk before sitting down on her bed.

As she began to pull off her skates, she wondered if she should tell Penelope the real reason she was taking an extra week off or tell her she just felt like going home for an extra week.

She knew she would eventually tell John, probably once she was home so her father wouldn't feel like he was being kept in the dark. Though she was keeping him in the dark to an extent.

When she finished pulling off her skates, Evelyn got up from the bed and went to her backpack. She unzipped it and pulled out her purse, from which she got her cell phone. Nefertiti meowed from around her feet as Evelyn walked into the living room.

She then set the phone down on the coffee table before heading to the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a can of diet Coke and opened it as she headed back into the living room.

She smiled as Nefertiti followed her back into the living room where she then sat down on the couch. Nefertiti jumped up next to her as she leaned forward and set the can of soda down on the coffee table before grabbing her cell phone.

She then flipped open her cell phone and scrolled down her contacts list until she found Lady Penelope and pushed the call button.

She put the phone up to her ear and heard it ring twice before a familiar British accent picked up the phone. "Evelyn? What a surprise!"

"Hey, Lady Penelope. I know it's out of the blue but I have a favor to ask," she replied. She heard a chuckle on the other end of the line.

"What can I do for you?" Penelope asked.

"Well, I managed to convince my teachers to let me take my midterms early so I could spend two weeks home instead of one. All I need is a ride there," she explained, biting her lip as she waited for an answer.

"Of course we will give you a ride to the island. I'm always looking for an excuse to visit paradise," she replied and Evelyn let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

If Penelope had seen through her little white lie, then she didn't say anything and for that Evelyn was grateful. "Thanks, Lady Penelope."

"You're very welcome Evelyn," the British women replied with a laugh."When would be a good time for Parker and I to pick you up?"

"Friday the thirteenth," Evelyn responded with a laugh. "Wow, just hope nothing bad happens."

"I hope you are right Evelyn," agreed Penelope with a chuckle. "I have to go now so I will see you on the thirteenth."

"Sounds good. Thanks, Lady Penelope," Evelyn replied before closing her cell phone. With a relieved sigh she leaned against the back of the couch.

She had done it. She had somehow gotten all of her teachers to agree to let her take the midterms early and now she had a ride home to the island the day after her final test. Now came the even harder part, she had to study for those tests.

With a groan, Evelyn pushed herself off the couch and headed into her bedroom. She set her cell phone on her nightstand to remind her to charge it before sitting down at her desk.

She pulled her backpack to her and zipped it open. First, she pulled out her laptop from the padded area designated for it and set it on her desk before pulling out all her books.

She then set them in a pile on the right side of her desk before pulling her Algebra book off the top. Evelyn opened her Algebra notebook and began to study all the notes she had taken in that class.

Only two more weeks and then she could relax at home. Well, as much as she could at home with four of her brothers around.


	19. Hallelujah!

**Chapter Eighteen- Hallelujah!  
** **March 12th, 2020**

Evelyn bit her lip as she read the last question on her Biology midterm. She was the only student in the classroom that morning and the silence was deafening. 

From above her bent head, she could feel Mr. Thomson staring at her in an attempt to intimidate her. An attempt that was currently failing as Evelyn began to answer the last question on the exam.

_Answer this and then I am out of here and I don't have to see his wrinkled old face for two weeks!_  She thought as she continued to write the answer down on the paper. 

Boy, would he be surprised when he found that most of her answers were over a paragraph in length. It seemed that the hours she had spent studying for all her midterms had paid off.

She was positive that she had passed her history test for she had known the answers straight away and had been able to answer them in good length. 

Algebra she had felt pretty confident about after re-reading all the notes she had taken several times until things had started to make since. 

English she wasn't too sure about but hoped she had gotten enough of the questions correct to pass. Now she just had to worry about passing this one last exam.

Out of all the study time she had had in the past two weeks, most of it was spent doing Biology in hopes to pass the test and prove Mr. Thomson wrong. She had pored over her book and her notes for hours on end in hopes of passing and had stayed up late cramming the night before. 

She knew she was probably just stressing herself more but in order for her to get away for more than one week, she had to take the tests early.

Evelyn sighed as she set down her pencil and re-read her answer. Grammar wasn't too bad from what she could tell; then again she was no English scholar. Was the answer correct, she certainly hoped so. 

Slipping her pencil back into her backpack before zipping it up and swinging it up onto her shoulder. She then grabbed the group of papers off the desk and walked to the front of the classroom to turn it in.

"You actually managed to finish?" he asked, taking the test from Evelyn's hand.

"Yes, I actually did," she replied sarcastically.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go on, get out of here! And I don't expect to see you for two weeks," he stated as she walked towards the door.

"Oh, you won't," she replied bitterly as she turned the doorknob and pushed it open before stepping out into the walkway outside the classroom. 

She sighed in relief as the door closed behind her. She was out of here for two weeks. No homework, no essays, and most importantly; no Mr. Thomson. 

_Hallelujah!_  She thought happily as she let her shoulders sag as all tension of her exams was released from her shoulders.

Evelyn smiled brightly as she walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. She set her backpack next to her, opened it up, and pulled out her skates. She then pulled off her sneakers and stuck them into the backpack before beginning to pull on her skates. 

The large smile on her face just wouldn't come off. She had actually managed to take all of her midterms early. She had actually done it.

She tightened up the laces on the skates before pulling her backpack on and standing up. Tomorrow morning Lady Penelope would pick her up and take her home. Away from all her problems and all her stress, though she still had to figure out how to tell her father she had not come home for two weeks by choice but had been told to by her doctor. That would not be a pretty conversation.

As she skated through the archway that was the entrance to the university campus, she heard her stomach growl. She glanced down at her stomach and shook her head. So much for going straight back to her apartment and starting to relax. 

First, she had to feed the bottomless pit that was called her stomach. She smirked as she stopped at the signal and pressed the button for the crosswalk. If she was going to treat herself to lunch, why not make a celebration of it. A celebration for finishing her exams. After all, this would be her last night in Boston for two weeks so why not have some fun. 


	20. Extra Cargo

**Chapter Nineteen- Extra Cargo  
** **March 13th, 2020**

Evelyn groaned and rolled over into her pillow as she heard her alarm clock going off. She pulled up the sheets around her head to try and block out the sound of her alarm. _Wait a minute. I never set my alarm last night._

She pulled the sheets down from around her head and lifted it off the pillow as she realized it wasn't her alarm clock she was hearing, it was her cell phone.

With a gasp, Evelyn rolled over and sat up in her bed. She reached over to where her phone sat on her nightstand, flipped it open and brought it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Good morning Evelyn," greeted Lady Penelope. "It seems there has been a change in plans."

"What do you mean?" Evelyn asked as her mind began to clear of all sleepiness and started to function more quickly.

"Your father and brothers have been called to Russia this morning and have asked me to pick up Alan and Fermat," Lady Penelope replied.

"About how far away from the school are you?" Evelyn asked, pushing her sheets off herself and getting out of bed.

"We should be there in about fifteen minutes," she replied. "Would you like for us to pick you up after we get the boys?"

"No, no. I'll meet you there," Evelyn stated before shutting her phone and jumping off the bed. She quickly went to her closet and pulled out some clean clothes to wear and began to change.

She looked around and was suddenly very glad that she had decided to pack up her duffel and backpack the night before. As soon as she finished pulling up her jeans and buttoning them, she ran to her bathroom to finish getting cleaned up so she could pack those few things.

After she brushed her teeth, she grabbed her brush and ran it through her short copper hair. Unable to get it to lie flat, she grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair up into a small ponytail. She then grabbed the things from her bathroom that she wanted to take, took them into her room and dumped them into her duffel bag.

Shoving her cell phone into her purse and then her purse into her backpack before checking to make sure her computer and skates were inside before zipping it up. She then sat down on her bed and pulled on her shoes before grabbing her backpack and duffle and running out to the kitchen.

She opened the fridge and pulled out a half-eaten Subway chicken sandwich she had gotten for dinner the night before. She then double checked Nefertiti's food and water and bid the cat goodbye before running out the door of her apartment.

* * *

As the taxi pulled into Wharton's Academy, Evelyn spotted FAB 1 sitting just outside the entrance. Parker stood beside it as many boys of the school gathered around to look at the bright pink car.

The taxi stopped and Evelyn quickly gave the driver the money she owned him before grabbing her duffle and backpack and stepping out of the car.

"Hello Miss Tracy," Parker greeted as she approached, tipping his hat to her.

"Hey, Parker. Where's Lady Penelope?" Evelyn asked as Parker took her bags from her and set them inside the car.

"Mi'lady and the principal just went to find your brother and young Mr. Hackenbacker," he replied. Evelyn thanked him before walking up the steps to the entrance and went into the front office. Samantha sat behind the desk and smiled as she walked in.

"Hello, Evelyn. What can I do for you?" she asked.

"I was wondering where my brother is?"

"He is most likely in the cafeteria watching the Thunderbirds on a rescue," Samantha replied. It was common knowledge that Alan watched every one of their rescues; just everyone thought it was for an entirely different reason.

"Thanks, Samantha. See you in two weeks!" she called as she ran out of the front office and headed towards the cafeteria she had seen briefly when Alan and Fermat had arrived at the school.

She ran through the campus, ignoring the catcalls and stares she got from the teenage boys and soon found herself approaching the cafeteria. She spotted the principal, who shouted at her to stop running as she passed.

She rolled her eyes as she slowed down near the entrance to the cafeteria. Several boys stood in the entrance to the room and were all looking inside. Evelyn cleared her throat and they turned around to face her. "Excuse me, boys. I need to get in there."

"Don't tell me you're here to see Tracy too," stated one of the boys.

"As a matter of fact I am," Evelyn replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now if you'll excuse me I would like to get into the room."

Evelyn pushed her way past the boys and entered the room. She smiled as three familiar faces in the center of the room turned towards her. "Hey, guys."

"Evie!" Alan smiled as he walked past a smiling Lady Penelope and moved to hug his sister. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going home too," she replied as she released him and ruffled his blond hair. "I took my midterms early so I could get two weeks off instead of one."

"You certainly got here quickly Evelyn," stated Lady Penelope as she walked up to the two siblings. "Are you two ready to go?"

"Yep," Alan and Evelyn said in unison. They glanced over at each other and laughed before the group of four began to make their way out of the cafeteria. Evelyn was stopped by the boys that had blocked her from entering the room.

"So you're his sister?" asked the boy who had spoken to Evelyn on her way into the room.

"Yep. And now if you'll excuse us, I'm quite eager to get home," she replied and moved past him to catch up with Alan, Fermat, and Lady Penelope.

She caught up in time to hear Alan finish asking, "Are you here on a mission for my father?"

"Quiet. My identity is secret and I must be as discreet as possible," she heard Penelope reply as she caught up to them.

"Yet she brings the bright pink car that screams 'Look at me! Look at me!'" Evelyn stated from behind them. Fermat and Alan hid smiles as Lady Penelope glanced back at Evelyn with a frown. Evelyn looked down and mumbled, "Sorry."


	21. Surprise!

**Chapter Twenty- Surprise!**

The flight to the island in FAB 1 took a few hours, making them due to land on the island just before dinner. The flight was mostly spent with Evelyn talking to Alan and Fermat while Penelope read a newspaper before working on her PDA. 

Not long after take-off, Parker had been distracted when Penelope had told him that England had won the football game the night before, causing the car to drop slightly as Parker celebrated before he grabbed the wheel and righted FAB 1.

"Approaching Tracy Island Mi'lady," Parker stated as the island came into view in the distance. Alan and Evelyn looked up from the game they had been playing on her computer. "And it seems we are not alone."

Alan and Evelyn glanced at each other as on either side of FAB 1, Thunderbirds One and Two approached them. Evelyn looked to Thunderbird One to her right and could vaguely make out the form of her eldest brother Scott waving before the two crafts flew past FAB 1. Thunderbird One circled around Thunderbird Two before they both sped off towards the island.

"Now that is showing off," stated Penelope as she sat back in her seat, a smile on her face. 

Evelyn looked to her younger brother beside her and smiled sadly as he whispered, "I wish that was me."

* * *

Evelyn, Alan, and Fermat walked around the pool towards the house and were soon greeted by the rest of the Tracy's and Brains. Evelyn sat down her duffel as she saw her brothers coming towards her, Alan and Fermat.

Gordon was the first to reach Evelyn and quickly pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tightly. "Evie! What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like? I came home for spring break," she replied as she pulled away from her twin and was soon pulled into a hug by Virgil.

"But I thought you only had one week?" Virgil asked as he pulled her into a hug.

"I took my midterms early," she replied with a shrug as Virgil released her before going to greet Alan.

Scott moved away from where he was greeting Alan and smiled as he walked over the Evelyn and pulled her into a hug, "Good to see ya, Evie."

"Good to see you too Scott," she replied as she pulled away and looked up at him with a smile. Scott smiled back for a moment before looking over her shoulder.

Evelyn turned her head to see her father standing behind her. Scott let go of her and stepped away as Evelyn turned around to face Jeff. "Hey, dad."

"Hello Evelyn," he replied with a small smile as he pulled her into a hug. Like at the hospital in December, Evelyn didn't hug her father nearly as tight as he hugged her. Jeff released her and held her at arm's length for a moment. "Good to have you home Evie."

"Dinner's ready!" called Onaha from where she was setting down the last plate of food on the table. Evelyn turned away from her father, letting his hands fall off her shoulders as she went to grab her duffel.

As she bent down to get it a hand intercepted her and grabbed it. Evelyn looked up and smiled at Kyrano. "Thanks, Kyrano."

"You're welcome Miss Tracy," he replied as he took her duffel and backpack and headed up the stairs. Evelyn turned and walked to the table her family was sitting down at and took the open seat between Scott and Fermat. She smiled as she grabbed a hamburger and set it on her plate.

"Hey sprout!" Scott greeted as Alan walked over to the table and sat down between Gordon and Brains.

"Don't you have homework to do?" Virgil asked as Alan grabbed a burger and set it on his plate.

"Unless he's blown this school up like the last one!" joked Gordon, shoving Alan playfully in the shoulder.

Alan looked down at his plate as his brother's laughed. He looked up and caught Evelyn's eye and she gave him a small smile as Jeff sat down at the table.

The dinner conversation soon turned to the rescue her brothers and father had just returned from. Evelyn looked up from taking a bite from her burger and noticed Alan looking sadly down at his.

After several more minutes of conversation about the rescue, Alan stood up from his seat and looked towards Jeff. "Dad, I'm not that hungry anymore. May I please be excused?"

Jeff nodded and Alan left the table. Once he was a few feet away he called, "Come on Fermat."

"But-but," the younger boy stuttered for a second before following after Alan. Evelyn looked over her shoulder and watched them leave with a sad smile before turning back to her dinner.

"What was that all about?" Gordon asked after a few seconds of silence. Virgil and Scott shrugged in reply as Evelyn just took another bite of her burger. Gordon looked towards her and asked, "Do you know Evie?"

Evelyn swallowed the bite of her burger and looked towards Gordon. "Yeah, I do."

Scott looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate but she just remained silent as she looked down at her plate. Scott sighed before he asked, "Well, what's wrong?"

"I know how he feels," she replied as she continued to look down at her plate. Her brothers all looked around at each other in confusion before she continued. "Because I've felt the same way he has since last August."

They immediately knew what she was talking about, for it seemed the entire island had been able to hear that argument. Looking up from her plate, she glanced around at all of them before pushing her plate away and saying, "I seem to have lost my appetite."

She looked at her father one last time before getting up from the table and walking into the house, heading up the stairs towards her bedroom.

She reached her room and slammed the door shut behind her. She noticed that Kyrano had set her duffel and backpack down on her bed. She pushed them towards the end of the bed before sitting down on it and leaning against the wall.

She looked to her nightstand and spotted the picture that showed Lucille and an eight-year-old Evelyn and smiled sadly.

She reached around her neck and unclasped the locket. She put it into her hand, feeling the strange engravings against her palm before she opened the locket. She looked at the picture of her parent's wedding and smiled sadly at the brightness of her mother's smile.

A knock on the door startled her, making her jump slightly. She closed the locket and set it down on her nightstand before calling towards the door, "Go away!"

"Come on Evie. Open up," Gordon called from the other side of the door.

"No Gordon. Go away!" she yelled back at the door, rolling her eyes as she got up off her bed and began to unpack her backpack.

"Please?"

"No!" she yelled as she set her computer on her desk and placed her skates down near the foot of her bed.

"Please?" he asked again.

"NO!" she yelled once more as she put her backpack beside her desk and moved to unzip her duffel.

"Pretty please?" he pleaded.

Evelyn groaned and looked towards the door. "If I let you in will you shut up?"

"Yes," he replied after a few seconds. Evelyn walked over to her bedroom door and opened it, stepping aside so Gordon could enter.

She closed the door behind him and watched as he sat down on her bed next to her duffle bag. He opened his mouth to say something and she smirked at him. "Ah, ah, ah. You said you would shut up if I let you in."

He shut his mouth and glared at her as she moved back to her bed and began to pull things out of her duffel bag. He stared at her the entire time she emptied the bag. W

hen she was done and had put the bag in her closet, she looked back at him. He just continued to stare at her. Evelyn sighed and placed a hand on her hip. "Go ahead and talk. You just staring at me is kinda creeping me out."

"Did you mean what you said at dinner?" he asked. Evelyn raised an eyebrow at him and he looked down. "Right, stupid question."

"Especially when you already know the answer," she replied, removing her hand from her hip. She moved from where she had been standing before her closet and sat down on the bed next to him. She leaned back against the wall beside her bed and looked towards him. "Can we please talk about something else?"

"So, how were your exams?" he asked. She laughed and shook her head. Leave it to Gordon to change to subject to school even though he had hated it when he had gone.

"Horrible," she replied, still chuckling.

"Then why do you go?" he asked as he leaned against the wall beside her.

"It's better than being stuck around her with absolutely nothing to do. Especially when -," she stopped in the middle of responding.

In the distance, they heard the alarm announcing that Thunderbird One was about to take off. After a few moments, the alarms stopped. They heard running footsteps pass the bedroom door. The twins glanced at each other before jumping off the bed and heading towards the door.

Evelyn opened the door and the two entered the hallway to see Scott running in the direction of their father's office.

They followed him and just as they reached the doorway to Jeff's office, Scott came out and noticed the confused looks the twins wore. "Alan and Fermat snuck into Thunderbird One."

"He's gonna get lectured again," stated Virgil as he walked up behind Gordon and Evelyn.

"From the way dad looks right now, I think we can expect World War Three," Scott motioned with his hand to the office behind him.

"I heard that Scott!" called Jeff from inside the office. Scott blushed slightly causing the three of his siblings present to laugh.


	22. In the Same Boat

**Chapter Twenty-One - In the Same Boat**

Not long after Evelyn and her brothers had left the hallway outside their father's office and Evelyn had returned to her room, Evelyn heard footsteps in the hall outside her bedroom. 

She stood from her bed where she had been reading a novel involving mummies and ancient Egypt, she walked over to her door and opened it a crack. She looked down the hallway and saw Alan's figure disappear down the hall towards their father's office, where he most likely waited to give Alan a lecture.

Evelyn sighed and left her door open before heading back to her bed. As she opened her book to where she had left off, she did her best to listen for the sounds of Alan leaving their father's office and hoping that he would head for his room just down the hall from hers. 

A few minutes later she heard footsteps in the hall and glanced up towards the doorway to see Alan walk by. She placed a bookmark on the page and closed the book as she heard Alan's door slam shut down the hall.

Evelyn stood from her bed, setting her book down on her nightstand and walked out of her room and out into the hallway. She headed down the hall, past Alan's room, and down the stairs towards the kitchen. She glanced around to see if any of her brothers were in the vicinity before heading to the freezer. She pushed the button and walked in, heading straight towards the shelf full of Ben & Jerry's. She then grabbed one container of Chunky Monkey and one of Cherry Garcia before turning towards the door. 

She let out a gasp and pressed a hand to her chest as she spotted Onaha in the doorway. "Onaha, you scared me."

"I am sorry to frighten you, Evelyn," she replied before pulling out two spoons from behind her back and handing them to Evelyn. "Thought I would save you a trip."

"Thanks, Onaha," said Evelyn. She walked past Onaha out of the freezer and towards the staircase as Onaha smiled after her and closed the freezer. 

Evelyn quickly found herself in the hallway that led to their bedrooms and her father's office and headed straight for Alan's room. She rapped her hand against the door and called, "Alan, it's me."

A few moments later she heard the lock on the door turn and watched as the door was opened to reveal her brother. He looked at her for a moment before she held up the pints of ice cream. "I bring a peace offering."

"It's not you I need to make peace with Evie," he replied with a smile as he opened the door wider for her to come in. As he closed the door, she sat down in the chair in front of his desk. 

As he walked away from the door, she held out the Chunky Monkey and a spoon towards him. He accepted them both with a smile before sitting down on his bed.

"You sure got these pretty quick this time," Alan stated as he pushed his spoon into the ice cream before taking a bite.

"Onaha got the spoons for me," she replied, taking a bite of her own ice cream."It seems every time you have a fight with dad, I gain five pounds."

Alan laughed as he used his spoon to get another scoop of ice cream. "Only five?"

Evelyn gaped at him as he continued laughing where he sat on his bed. "Brat."

"Fatty," he teased back just as she took another bite of ice cream. She glared at him as she swallowed. 

She continued to glare at him as she said, "Then stop arguing with dad before I become obese."

Alan stuck his spoon in his ice cream before setting it down in his lap with a sigh. "He told me I need to grow up."

"I think he's told us all that at least once," Evelyn replied, setting her own ice cream on his desk before getting out of the chair and sitting beside him on the bed. "Except maybe John, but he's the odd one out in that department."

"While we're the odd ones out the rest of the time," Alan stated, setting his ice cream on the nightstand and leaning back against the wall.

"Yep," Evelyn agreed as she took up a similar position beside him before putting an arm around his shoulders. "You and I are in the same boat sprout."

* * *

Jeff sighed as Alan walked out of his office before leaning back in his chair. A few moments later he heard a door slam in the distance. First Evelyn was still mad at him from their argument last August and now Alan was too. 

His eyes caught the picture of Lucille and all six of their children that had been taken the day before the accident; he leaned forward in his chair as he looked at it.

A soft chiming sound came from his computer that told him someone was calling. Jeff looked away from the picture and pushed the button on the computer to accept the call coming in from Thunderbird Five. The image of his second eldest son appeared on the screen. "Hey, John. Anything I can do for you?"

"I could sure use a pizza," the blond replied, holding up one of the meal bars that was supplied up on the station. "Know any place that delivers?"

"Thirty minutes, or it's free, right?" Jeff asked jokingly as he leaned back in his chair.

"So, what's happening on Planet Tracy?" John asked a few moments later, leaning back in his own chair up on Thunderbird Five.

"Alan's home for spring break," Jeff replied.

"Ah. I thought I could see a storm heading your way," John stated as he looked up at the image of his father on the screen.

"Teenagers. And Evelyn is also home," Jeff commented. He watched a look of shock form on his son's face. "She hitched a ride with Penny. Looks like she had been planning to come home early for the past two weeks since she called Penny two weeks ago."

"I'll have to ask her about that," John stated mostly to himself. Jeff raised an eyebrow at John's image on the screen. "She'll sometimes talk to me via webcam when she needs help with schoolwork."

Jeff sighed and shook his head, "I can remember the days when she, and Alan, came to talk to me whenever they needed help. Or came to me just for the heck of it. Anymore I barely get a call from either of them and Evelyn's almost always mad at me nowadays."

"Well, Dad, we've all been teenagers once," John began. "And yes, Evelyn and Gordon are still teenagers, though Gordon sometimes acts much younger than he is. You've done a great job since Mom died."

"Thanks, John. Can I do anything else before I turn in?" Jeff asked as he leaned forward slightly in his chair as the conversation began to draw to a close.

John looked away from the screen his father was on and to some of the other monitors in the space station. "Well, there's a forest fire in Vladivostok and a typhoon bearing down on Singapore."

"I'll call Vladivostok and see if they need any help," Jeff replied. "Keep an eye on that typhoon."

"FAB," John stated. The screen in Jeff's office went black as John cut the connection on his end. 

Down the hall, he could vaguely hear Evelyn say, "Alan, it's me." J

eff smiled sadly. It seemed Evelyn had pulled another ice cream run for her and Alan that she seemed to do every time after Alan and Jeff argued. 


	23. Mayday

**Chapter Twenty-Two - Mayday**    
**March 14th, 2020**

Evelyn sighed as she walked up the stairs towards her bedroom. Breakfast had been slightly awkward with both Evelyn and Alan upset at their father. Scott, Virgil, and Gordon had tried several times to break the silence and start a conversation but none of their attempts had worked. Though Jeff had told Evelyn that John wanted to talk to her. So when the meal finished, everyone went their own way and Evelyn headed up to her bedroom to use her laptop to talk to John.

Evelyn entered her room and closed the door behind her. She then walked over to her desk, grabbed her laptop off of it and sat down on her bed leaning against the wall. She sat the computer on her lap before opening it up. The welcome screen appeared after a second and she entered her password.

She hit enter and the computer loaded its last saved settings, the picture of her and Alan appeared as her wallpaper. She went to the start up menu and selected her messenger. Once it appeared she clicked on John's name and the messaging window opened.

**EgyptianGoose** : I was told you wanted to talk to me.

She pursued her lips as she waited for him to reply. The computer chimed as his reply appeared on the screen.

**StarGazer** : Open up your webcam.

She went to the top of the messaging window and hit the icon that enabled the web chat option. A new window popped up with the image of her second eldest brother, sitting back in his chair as he waited for her to enlarge the window on her end. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to the island early?"

"So that dad wouldn't be irked if I had told you I was coming and not him," she explained as she looked down at her screen.

John nodded in reply before leaning forward in his chair and asking, "So why did you leave for spring break early?"

Evelyn sighed and glanced down at the keypad of her computer before looking up and replying, "You were right."

"About?" he inquired as he leaned back in his chair and waited for her to explain.

"Being stressed," she replied. "Not long after you told me I needed to relax, Samantha caught me coming home late one evening and commented on how horribly stressed I looked."

"Samantha is the lady who lives across from you right?" he asked, vaguely remembering meeting the women when he had helped Evelyn move into her apartment.

Evelyn nodded, "Yeah. Well after bugging me for a few days I finally agreed to go to the doctor. I hoped to prove that I was fine to you, Samantha and Fermat."

"Fermat?"

"Yeah. When I took him and Alan to the mall on President's Day they asked why I was eating a BK salad," she replied.

"Out of all the places in the mall they picked Burger King? And you ate a salad?" John asked with a faint grin on his face. It was common knowledge that Evelyn was not very fond of salads.

"Yes and yes. Anyway, I told them about the doctor's appointment later that week and Fermat made the comment 'yeah, you are showing a few of the symptoms,'" she explained. John chuckled for as smart as the young boy was, he sure lacked tact.

"So what did the doctor say?" John asked as his chuckling subsided.

"High blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, signs of insomnia, weight loss," she replied, ticking them off on her fingers as she remembered them. She watched John's face become concerned as she did so. "So he gave me meds for the blood pressure and told me to take two weeks off."

"Jeez," John muttered, shaking his head. "I mean, I knew you had it bad but I didn't think that bad."

"I'm fine now that I'm away from school," she stated firmly. Unlike the last time she had told him she was fine, this time he looked convinced. "And I'm not complaining about losing the weight. I lost it from a spot that is perfectly okay with me."

"Well, they do say ice cream goes straight to your hips," he teased, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Evelyn gaped at him, "Good grief. You're just as bad as Alan."

"He say something like that last night?" John asked as a grin broke out on his face. Evelyn looked at him in confusion. "Well, I know that you always have an ice cream run after Alan and dad argue."

"You've got to be kidding me," Evelyn sighed, shaking her head. "Nothing stays a secret long on this island."

"Well, we were bound to notice all the missing ice cream," John replied with a shrug. Evelyn glared at him for a moment before laughing. John shook his head. "I gotta go, Evie. All this talk of food is making me hungry."

Evelyn shook her head as the window went black and closed. She closed the messenger before closing her laptop. She stood up from her bed, carrying her laptop and set it down on her desk.

She had just reached into her backpack for the charger when the rescue alarm went off, but this one sounded slightly different than the normal one.

Evelyn walked to her bedroom door, her laptop and charger forgotten. She entered the hallway and could hear her brothers heading up the stairs. Not bothering to wait for them, she walked quickly down the hall and entered her father's office just as the room began to change into International Rescue's Command and Control.

She moved off to the side of the doorway as Brains sat down in the chair and looked to one of the computers; Fermat standing beside him.

"What's the damage Brains?" her father asked as he entered the room, followed close behind by her brothers.

"Thunderbird Five has received major damage. P-p-possible strike by an m-m-me," Brains stuttered, trying to find the correct word to describe what had hit Thunderbird Five. Over by the doorway, Evelyn paled as soon as she heard Thunderbird Five mentioned.

"John," she whispered. She had just finished talking to him not even five minutes before.

"Meteor," Jeff finished. Evelyn watched as her father and brothers walked to their perspective portraits that slid open to reveal the lifts down to the Thunderbird silos. She moved away from the doorway to stand closer to the desk, wanting to know what was happening the entire time.

Her father and brothers looked towards her just as her father said, "Thunderbirds are go!"

With that statement, the lifts closed and the portraits slid back down to hide them. Evelyn turned away from the wall and looked to Fermat. "Where's Alan?"

"D-d-down at the b-b-b-"

"Can you go get him please?" Evelyn asked, cutting the young boy off. Fermat nodded and ran out of the room. Evelyn then turned back and looked at the computer where Brains was looking at a computer diagram of Thunderbird Five.

On the second computer was a diagram of Thunderbird Three, showing the readouts as her brothers and father prepared for takeoff.


	24. Fifteen Minutes

**Chapter Twenty Three- Fifteen Minutes**

The prepping of Thunderbird Three seemed to take ages but was in reality only a few minutes as the giant rocket was always fueled and ready to go at a moment's notice. 

Evelyn stood as still as a statue beside Brains as her father's face appeared on the screen. The pre-flight checks were done quickly and very quietly and before she knew it her father was telling Brains, "We are ready for liftoff."

Brains nodded in reply as the countdown began. In the distance, Evelyn could hear the alarms that signaled that the library was moving apart above Thunderbird Three's silo. Evelyn swallowed the lump in her throat before saying, "Good luck you guys."

"We'll inform you of the situation as soon as we get up there," Jeff replied, looking straight at Evelyn. 

Evelyn nodded and his picture disappeared from the screen. It was replaced with the image of Thunderbird Three taking off from its silo. Its red paint gleamed in the tropical sun and a long trial of fluffy white smoke followed after it. 

_Everything is going to be alright. Johns probably fine,_  Evelyn thought to herself as she watched Thunderbird Three climb higher and higher on the screen.

"About how long will it take them to reach the station?" Evelyn asked, her eyes not leaving the screen before her.

"F-f-f-fifteen minutes," Brains replied as he continued to watch the read-outs of Thunderbird Three.

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" screamed the alarms. The images on the screens began to flicker in and out and what little picture that could be seen was full of static. Though one picture was clear enough to show a large gray submarine emerge from the water just off the shore of the island.

"Brains, what's happening?" Evelyn asked as the engineer looked around at all the communications equipment.

"C-c-communications failure," he replied before leaning forward and trying to contact Thunderbird Three. "T-Thunderbird Three come in. Thunderbird Three, please respond."

Evelyn became paler than she already was as nothing but static and silence filled the communication airways. She looked to the still flickering screen that showed the submarine to see people beginning to depart the craft. "I bet they have something to do with this. How did the even find the island?"

Brains didn't answer but merely shrugged in reply. They both watched the screen as more people filed out of the giant sub before gathering and heading up towards the house. "They're coming. About how long before the reach the villa Brains?"

"F-f-f-fifteen minutes," he replied, repeating his earlier answer. No way were they going to get into this house unscathed. Evelyn looked towards the open door as an idea hit her before looking back to Brains.

"Does the internet still work here and on Thunderbird Five?" she asked, moving away from the desk and towards the door. 

He looked at several computers for a moment or two before looking back at Evelyn. "Y-y-y-looks like it."

"Okay. I'll be back," she replied before running out of the room and down the hallway. She reached her room and grabbed her laptop before quickly putting it and her skates into her backpack, just in case she needed to get around quickly. She then left her room and closed the door behind her before heading down to Gordon's a few doors away.

She ran into her twin's room and dropped to the ground next to his bed. She reached underneath and pulled out his secret prank supply stash. She opened it to find supplies for several traps she could set up. She pulled out a bottle of vegetable oil, fishing twine, banana peels that she didn't even want to know how long they had been in there, a pulley and a pair of scissors. She put all this into her backpack before going to his closet and grabbing a large bucket she knew was hidden in the back behind his clothes.

She then left the room, closing the door behind her and headed across the hall to Virgil's. She opened the door and immediately went to where he kept his art supplies and grabbing several large tubes of paint and dropped them into the bucket. She then pulled the vegetable oil and the banana peels out of her backpack before leaving the room.

She then went to the staircase and dropped banana peeled every few steps before returning to the top and opening the vegetable oil. As she backed down the hall, she poured the bottle all over the floor.

_That should keep them busy for a few minutes,_  she thought to herself as she emptied to last of the bottle. She capped the empty bottle before walking down the rest of the hallway to her father's office.

She walked into the room and noticed that Brains had deactivated Command and Control. Evelyn closed the door almost all the way before turning back to Brains. She held up the bucket with a small smirk on her face. "I need your help with this. Can you empty the paint tubes into the bucket for me?"

Brains nodded and took the bucket from her as she set down her backpack and pulled out the twine and the scissors. As Brains emptied at tubes, Evelyn took the end of the twine and tied it around the handle of the bucket. She looked up from tying the knot and making sure it was secure to see Brains empty the last tube into the mash of colors in the bucket. 

_Virgil is going to kill me when he finds out about this_ , she thought as she looked down into the bucket.

"Okay, put the bucket on the ledge above the door and hold it there while I secure the twine to the outside edge of the door," Evelyn instructed. Though she had not often pulled pranks on her brothers, she picked up a few things from watching Gordon and from the few pranks he had roped her into helping him with.

Evelyn tightly secured the twine to the outside of the door as Brains held the bucket in place. She then closed the door and smiled as the bucket stayed up on the ledge. She then replaced the leftover twine and scissors into her backpack as Brains disposed of the paint tubes. 

As she slung the backpack over her shoulders, she spotted the air vent located just a few feet away from the window, opposite the one near the mural of her father and brothers. Brains noticed her staring up and followed her gaze. 

As she looked back down, she caught his eye and he knew exactly what she planned to do. She could not be seen if she wanted to try and contact those up on Thunderbird Five. "I'll h-h-h-lift you up."

"Thanks," Evelyn nodded before quickly showing him the basic handwork that would help him easily left her up to the vent. He crouched down and she placed her right foot into his hands. 

Biting her lip, he shakingly lifted her up off the ground. She reached up and pushed the grate to the side. She then grabbed the edge of the hole and with Brain's help, managed to pull herself up into the vent.

The area around the hole was dark and unless someone walked right beneath her and looked up, they would only see the shadow of her face. 

Voices were heard on the other side of the door, clearly angry from the traps they had found in the hall. Brains walked over to the desk, sat down in the chair and grabbed a magazine and began to look at it.

Evelyn rolled her eyes. From the angle, she was on she could see most of the room and they could hopefully not see her. And what she saw right now was Brains whistling while pretending to read a magazine upside down. 

Before she could say anything, the door was pushed wide open and the bucket fell from above the door. Evelyn smirked as the paint hit the first person into the room and splashed those a few feet behind him. 


	25. The Hood

**Chapter Twenty Four- The Hood**

Evelyn stifled a laugh as the tall black man that the paint had fallen on growled as he wiped it out of his eyes. His black leather clothing was covered in multiple colors. Behind him stood a bald man in red silk and a woman with bright red hair. The back of her clothing was slick with oil as was the hem of his robes. Flecks of paint had also managed to get onto their clothing. The black man stepped out of the puddle of paint and moved over to where Brains sat at the desk.

"Wh-h-h-ho-o-o-o-o-o, h-ho-o-o-w-w-w-w-w," Brains stuttered as the man grabbed him and promptly drug him to the other side of the room and pushed him down onto the couch. The bald man in red looked around the room.

"So this is Mount Olympus," the man commented as he looked around the room. Evelyn watched as he turned and looked at the mural on the wall behind the desk.

"And these are the Thunderbirds. I should have guessed. Jeff Tracy," he sneered as Evelyn saw him step towards the painted figure of her father in the center of the wall. Understanding dawned on Evelyn. He was after the Thunderbirds. "The billionaire ex- astronaut, of course. Wasn't he the one who had a wife that died in an accident? Avalanche, wasn't it? How tragic."

Evelyn narrowed her eyes at the man as he turned away from the mural and continued to look around the room. The red haired women walked up to where Brains sat nervously on the couch. "Professor Hackenbacker? We met at last year's international conference on nanotechnology. I thought your thesis on neutrinos was extremely… stimulating."

Evelyn stuck her tongue out and gagged as the man in red scolded her. She was hitting on Brains! Evelyn was suddenly very glad she was in the vent and didn't have to witness it up close.

The women that the man had called Transom apologized before pulling out a small handheld gadget. She then turned and walked towards the desk. "The command and control switch is here."

She pushed the button hidden underneath the edge of the desk and out slid a small panel. "Fingerprint recognition system."

The man in red turned towards Brains. "Professor Hackenbacker, please. Activate the control switch."

Evelyn rolled her eyes at the man. As if Brains would willingly do what the man wanted. The black man beside him lifted Brains to his feet and the man stepped forward to stand in front of Brains. Evelyn noticed that he was extremely short.

"F-f-f-f," Evelyn felt her jaw drop. No way. Brains was going drop the F- Bomb! "No way."

The man in red sighed. "Professor, you and I share a common interest in the powers of the mind. The difference is I was born with my powers. Even the strongest minds can be broken. It would be a pity to break yours. Trust me when I tell you when you've barely touched the surface."

Brains just glared back down at him. The man sighed and looked down for a moment before looking back up at Brains. Evelyn frowned as Brains suddenly tensed as the man looked up at him. "Activate the control switch prof!"

Evelyn watched as Brains looked at the man in horror as he seemed to move forward towards the desk against his will. The man in red had his hand outstretched towards Brains and was laughing at the engineer's jerky movements towards the switch. "Like a puppet on a string."

_He has some sort of mind control powers_ , Evelyn thought as she watched Brains move closer to the desk. Brains hand hovered just over the switch for a moment as he struggled against the man's control.

The man in red slightly pushed his hand forward and Brains hand made contact with the sensor. The computer the announced, "Switching to Command and Control."

Evelyn watched as the room below her switched from her father's normal office into International Rescue's Command and Control. The invader's of their home watched in fascination as the room changed around them. The mural on the wall faded and was replaced with the portraits of her father and brothers, behind which was the lifts to the Thunderbirds silos.

As the room finished changing, Brains sat down in the chair in front of the computers. Not even a moment later, the black man pulled him out of it. "Get up. Get up!"

"Sorry professor!" Transom stated as Brains was pulled away and she sat down in the chair. "Nothing personal."

_Oh yeah. Invading our home isn't personal_ , Evelyn thought sarcastically as the women turned to the nearest computer and began working the controls.

The man in red then adjusted one of the monitor's as he said, "Attention Thunderbird Five. As you can see, I have taken over your facilities."

"Warm them up, Transom," the man ordered as he looked away from the screen and towards Transom.

She nodded before turning back to the computer. "Increasing temperature, to maximum."

"Who are you? What do you want?!" Evelyn heard her father ask over the communication link to the space station.

The man was looking away from the screen and at the various items that sat on the desk. "You can call me the Hood."

The Hood came back to the computer screen and looked at the faces of her family that Evelyn could not see from the angle she was on. "Now, Mr. Tracy, we won't be negotiating. I'm going to use the Thunderbirds to rob the largest banks in the world, starting with the Bank of England. The world's monetary system will be thrown into chaos and the Thunderbirds held responsible."

Evelyn glared through the darkness of the vent at the Hood as she heard her eldest brother shout, "You'll never get away with it!"

Damn right he won't get away with it, she thought as she continued to glare.

She heard her father ask, "Why the Thunderbirds?"

"An eye for an eye, Mister Tracy," the Hood replied. Evelyn's glare turned to a frown. What in the world was he talking about?

"An eye for an eye?" she heard her father ask.

"Perhaps you've forgotten me, but surely you remember saving the life of my brother, Kyrano?" the Hood responded.

In the vent, Evelyn's jaw dropped. From the doorway, two more men in black with backs covered in oil brought Kyrano and Onaha into the room. The one holding Kyrano pushed him forward as he stared at the Hood in shock.

He then turned to the nearest screen, "I'm sorry, Mr. Tracy. I thought he was dead!"

The Hood laughed and waved a hand, "Take them away! But first, have them clean up the paint and oil on the floor."

"Yes sir," replied one of the men as he grabbed Kyrano before ushering him and his wife from the room.

The Hood then moved to one of the chairs between two different computers and sat down. "You left me to die that day. You may have broken my body but you've no idea how powerful my mind has become. Now you will suffer, like I suffered, waiting for a rescue that will never come."

As he leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling, he motioned with his hand towards Transom. Evelyn heard her father shout just before the connection was closed.

From somewhere in the vents, someone sneezed. Brains managed to cover it up by pulling out his hand towel just in time as everyone in the room below her looked towards him.

The second sneeze a few moments later was not so easy to cover up and echoed through the vents. Evelyn grimaced and whispered, "Oh no."

"Run!" Alan's voice echoed through the vents. From the angle she was on, Evelyn saw the black man reach up into the second vent in the room. Fermat's yell could be heard and the man grabbed what Evelyn assumed was his leg.

The man suddenly pulled his hand away with a yell. Evelyn the heard Alan yell, "Jump! This'll take us to the silos!"

Evelyn heard their yells fade into the distance as the fell down the vent. Part of her wanted to follow them but the other part of her told her that if she really wanted to accomplish anything and piss them off some more, she would have to stay hidden.

The Hood looked angrily at the man as examined his hand. "Apparently, the island is not as secure as you thought, Mullion."

The Hood looked away from Mullion and to one of the shelves that lined the room. Evelyn noticed him look closely at the picture of her, her mother and her brothers taken the year before she died.

"Children," the Hood stated, turning away from the picture to look at Mullion. "Did you find any children?"

"Here they are!" Transom announced in victory. The Hood and Mullion looked towards the screen she was looking at. "Thunderbird Two silo, loading arm."

"Seal them in!" Mullion hissed, gesturing to the other two men in the group to follow him.

"Looks like just outside this door and straight ahead is a larger elevator that will take you down," Transom explained as she looked at the computer.

Up in the vent, Evelyn watched as the three men walked out of the room and towards where she knew the larger elevator down to the silos was located.

The Hood looked at the picture once more before looking towards Brains. "There are only three children down in the silos and one of them I know to be my brother's daughter. Where is Jeff Tracy's daughter?"

Evelyn held her breath as she watched the Hood step closer to Brains with each word he said. "C-c-c-c-university."

"Ah, so she is not a Thunderbird as her father and brothers are," the Hood said to himself as he walked away Brains.

Nothing more about Evelyn was said as Transom called over her shoulder, "Mullions down. Two of them got him with the Firefly while the third used the Thunderizer to get into Thunderbird One's silo."

The Hood growled and Evelyn watched as he walked over to Scott's portrait that would take him down to said silo. As the portrait slid shut and the lift activated, she saw Brains glance up at the vent hole that Evelyn was in.

A few minutes later, Evelyn heard Mullion call through the communications system, "Transom! Fire up Thunderbird One! And set to broil!"

"No," Evelyn whispered. They had said that one of them, most likely Alan, had used the Thunderizer to get through the door to the silo and she knew from the few times she had been down there that it led you right underneath Thunderbird One.

Mullion entered the room a few minutes later with a towel in his hand as Transom looked at the computer. "No sign of them!"

Mullion laughed and grinned as he used the towel to wipe off the fire retardant from the Firefly. "Of course not! The little brats went up like fire crackers. Pop, pop, pop!"

In the vent, Evelyn lost all color. Her only younger brother was dead, all because of some madman wanting revenge. She looked down to see Brains had stood rushed up to Mullion.

"Don't give him the satisfaction professor," the Hood stated. Brain's fist stopped before he could do anything to Mullion and Brains looked down in defeat and sorrow. "This is taking far too long. We are wasting far too much time. Transom, Mullion; choose the equipment we need to break into the vault and load it into Thunderbird Two."

Evelyn watched as the Hood, Transom, and Mullion left the room and the two remaining tied Brains up. Evelyn felt all her sadness at the death of her brother and friends turn to anger as she watched them leave to go down to Thunderbird Two's silo.

They wouldn't get away with killing her family and tarnishing the reputation of the Thunderbirds as long as she was alive. With a set plan in mind, she took her backpack and crawled along the vents heading towards the bedrooms of her and her family.


	26. Waiting Game

**Chapter Twenty Five- Waiting Game**

Evelyn returned to the vent above the office after heading over to Virgil's room and grabbing a few things she would need when she prepared her little 'gift' for the Hood in Thunderbird Two. But before she could get to the craft, she had to wait until she knew exactly where the Hood and his minions were. And right now she knew that they were all down in Thunderbird Two's silo. Getting caught by them was not an option if she wanted to succeed.

A few minutes after Evelyn had returned to the vent in her father office, the Hood entered the room and sat down in the chair. He leaned all the way back in it and began what Evelyn guessed was meditating since she was positive he wasn't asleep.

Evelyn settled down on her stomach as she waited. She had no idea how long it had been since they had invaded her home but ventured to guess it had been about two hours. And about half that time was after they had killed Alan.

She grew angry at the thought of her younger brother no longer being alive because of the people below her. The people who had invaded their home just for revenge. She watched as Transom re-entered the room and the Hood sat up in the chair, smirking.

_Why is he smirking now?_ Evelyn asked herself.

* * *

Onboard Thunderbird Five, things were deteriorating around the five men on board. Three hours had passed of the four that John had predicted how long the emergency batteries would last. Though they did get a glimmer of hope in the form of contact from the youngest member of the family.

"Dad!" shouted the voice of Alan as his image appeared on one of the smaller screens on the main console.

"It's Alan," John called from where he had been sitting before the main console. His father and brothers hurried over from their various locations around the room and looked down at Alan's face in flickering color on the screen.

"Alan! Where are you? Are you safe?" Jeff asked as the five of them leaned over the console.

"I'm at the satellite relay station with Fermat and Tin-Tin," he replied. "Fermat's gonna hack into the main computer system and give control of Thunderbird 5 back to you."

"We're standing by," Jeff stated before asking what all five of them were thinking. "Alan, where is Evelyn?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since breakfast," he replied. Static began to interrupt the connection, Alan's image beginning to flicker.

"Alan, what's happening?" Jeff asked as the static grew worse.

"Hang in there Dad. One more minute, okay?" Alan replied before looking away from the screen. He looked back a few seconds later looking slightly panicked. "Dad, can you hear me? They're jamming the signal. We're gonna lose you. Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

"That's a negative. It's too dangerous. Follow emergency procedure. Wait for Lady Penelope at the rendezvous point," Jeff instructed as the image began to fade out. Alan looked briefly away from the screen as the image flickered. "Alan, can your read me? Alan, we're losing you."

"Alan!" Jeff shouted as the image disappeared and the screen turned black.

* * *

Up in the vent above Command and Control, Evelyn was absolutely board. She had even gone so far as to mentally sing '99 bottles of beer on the wall.' The song had long since ended and Evelyn held her head in her hand as she looked down into the room below.

The Hood had left the room a few moments before leaving Transom and Brains below. Where he had gone to, she had no idea and she wasn't about the check and see if he was in the bathroom.

Though her attention was perked when Transom stood up from the chair and knelt down before where Brains sat tied up. Evelyn frowned in confusion as she pulled off Brain's glasses. "My professor, you look so handsome without your glasses."

Evelyn gagged as she continued to flirt and pulled off her own glasses. "You may find that is something else we have in common."

"Pretty?" Transom asked as she leaned forward towards Brains. Brains looked extremely uncomfortable and up in the vent, Evelyn was grimacing. Luck had it that the alarm choose that moment to go off. Transom sat back on her heels and whined, "Oh, well that's not fair!"

Brains looked incredibly relieved as she moved over to the computer. The Hood re-entered the room and walked over to the desk. Transom looked up at him and announced, "Sir, there's a burst of transmission from the island's satellite station. Should I jam it?"

"Yes," he replied with a nod. "And give Mullion the coordinates."

A giant smile grew on Evelyn's face as she realized just who it was that was that was sending the transmission. The choices were very slim so it could only mean one thing. Alan was alive! They survived! Her happiness was only fueled on has the Hood sat down in the chair.

They were here and Mullion was out searching for her brother, Fermat, and Tin-Tin. None of them would be down in Thunderbird Two's silo. She slowly moved away from the hole in the vent and around to the other side of the room. She spotted the vent that Alan, Fermat, and Tin-Tin had jumped down earlier.

She secured her backpack on her shoulders before grabbing the edges of the vent and lowering herself down into it. She looked up briefly to where her hand clung to the edge before looking down. In the distance, she could vaguely spot to bottom of the vent.

Taking a deep breath and biting her lip, Evelyn let go.


	27. Few Last Touches

**Chapter Twenty-Six - Few Last Touches**

When Evelyn landed at the bottom of the vent, she collapsed on all fours as the force of the fall hit her legs. How she had managed to keep from screaming on the way down she had no idea.

Panting, she glanced up at where she had just come from. Her eyes widened as she looked up. It hadn't looked that far when she had been up there, but from down here she could barely make out the top.

Pulling up the straps of her backpack, she crawled over to where the vent cover in Thunderbird Two's silo had already been pushed out and climbed through it.

She looked around the silo as she emerged from the vent and noticed she had come out by the cabinet of paint that was used for touch ups on the Thunderbirds after rescues.

Evelyn glanced around the silo just in case any of the Hood minions were down there and walked over to the cabinet. She twisted the handle and opened the doors. In front of her were shelves full of extra paint. She reached up and grabbed a can of red to find it was half empty. She then glanced back up at the shelves and spotted an open can of white. She smirked as she grabbed it off the shelf.

She was going to make one hell of a mess in the Thunderbird and Virgil would not be happy that she messed with his 'bird, but if it pissed off the Hood then it was worth it.

She then set the can of red paint down on the floor and pulled off the lid. Opening the can of white, she added some of it to the can of red and watched as the red turned into a pale pink. Replacing the lid onto the white and putting it onto the shelf, she closed the cabinet.

he then grabbed the lid to the now pink paint and placed it onto the can before grabbing the handle and heading to the lowered pod carrying the Mole.

She walked around the massive digging machine and walked up the platform and into the belly of Thunderbird Two. She then turned and headed down the hallway to where she knew was a lift to take her up to the command deck of Thunderbird Two.

She entered the lift and pushed the bottom to go up. The doors closed and the lift stopped moments later in the hallway just outside the command deck.

She walked into the room and looked up at the ceiling and spotted nothing but lights. Frowning, Evelyn continued to look around the room for some place she could hide Virgil's wireless iPod alarm clock.

She then spotted a small vent hole next to the edge of the doorway. She knew instantly that Mullions large arm would not be able to fit through it. She knelt down and set her backpack and paint can down next to her. She opened it up and pulled out the scissors, Virgil's iPod, and the clock.

Using the scissors, she lifted the cover of the vent. She then grabbed the clock; placed Virgil's iPod on it and set the alarm to go off in one hour. Then she placed the clock into the vent and pushed it to the side so it could not be seen before replacing the vent cover.

Then out of her backpack, she pulled the twine and the pulley. She then stood up and using the adhesive on the Gordon had placed on the back of the pulley, she put it above the doorway to the command deck. Then she took the twine and threaded it through the pulley and attached the end to the paint can. She then threaded the twine around the two handrails one either side of the doorway.

Before she tied the twine in a knot around the second handrail she pulled the twine until the paint can hovered above the doorway and then tied a very loose knot.

If the Hood entered the room behind Mullion and Transom as he usually seemed to do, he would be hit with the paint when one of them knocked into the string. If all went well, he would be covered in the pink paint.

With a smirk on her face, she grabbed her backpack and carefully stepped up and over the string and back into the hallway. She walked back to the lift and entered it. Now she only had to find a safe, secluded place down below where they would not find her.

She stepped off the lift back in the belly of Thunderbird Two. Heading around the pod that held Thunderbird Four, she spotted the area designated for those who were rescued and walked through the doorway into the room.

Chairs lined both sides of the room and on the far end was a small intermarry area that appeared to have two or three beds for those with major injuries. In that area was what appeared to be a bathroom and a supply closet.

She walked quickly across the room and towards the supply closet. She opened the door to find it was a decent sized, dimly lit walk in closet lined with shelves full of towels, bandages, and other medical supplies needed on rescues.

The pale green light cast an eerily glow around the closet and the white towels seemed to almost glow in the dark. She entered the closet and gently closed the door behind her. She made her way over to the far wall and pulled down a few towels to sit down on.

She put her backpack down on the ground before sitting on the towels beside it and leaning her back up against the shelf full of towels.

Unzipping her backpack, she pulled out her laptop out and set it on her lap. The first thing she needed to do was contact those up on Thunderbird Five. Hopefully, Brains was right and the internet up there still worked.


	28. Contact

**Chapter Twenty Seven- Contact**

"Hoo! Somebody roll down a window, it's gettin' a little hot in here," Jeff commented as he sat in a chair before the main console, trying to lighten the mood of those trapped up in Thunderbird Five. His sons were in various locations around the station as all they could do was sit and wait.

Virgil looked at a monitor and then looked back towards his father. "Re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in thirty-seven minutes."

"Oxygen's out at thirty, so we won't feel a thing," Scott commented from where he sat on the floor near the main console, Gordon a few feet away from him. Virgil glared over at his eldest brother.

"Stop it!" Jeff shouted, looking between Scott and Virgil.

"Come on, Dad. The situation's hopeless," Gordon stated as he looked up at his father. 

Jeff looked down at him and said, "There's still time. We've got people on the ground working for us."

Gordon scoffed. "Alan? He's just a kid."

"He's a Tracy," Jeff replied, giving Gordon a hard look as the two stared at each other. Gordon then looked away from his father. "And your sister is also somewhere down there."

"Yeah. Somewhere," Gordon muttered under his breath. 

Jeff opened his mouth to say something to him when he heard the computer in front of him chime and watched as a message popped up on the screen. Jeff frowned as he read the name, wondering who exactly had sent the message.

**EgyptianGoose:** Guys? Are you there?

"Uh, John?" Jeff asked his second eldest son. John sat up from the monitor he was leaning against a few feet away from his father. "Who is EgyptianGoose?"

John's blue eyes widened and he moved to stand. Jeff got up from the chair and walked over to help him up. Scott, Virgil, and Gordon all looked over as John answered, "Evie. That's her screen name."

"You mean to say out of the few things working up here, the internet is one of them?" Scott asked as he got up and walked over to where his father and John were in front of the main console. 

Virgil and Gordon joined them a few moments later. John sat down in the chair his father had previously occupied and used the keyboard to reply to Evelyn.

**StarGazer:** Evie? Turn on the web chat!

The message appeared in the instant message window and a few seconds later, a new window opened. 

Evelyn appeared slightly dirty and extremely relieved at the sight of them. She sat up against what appeared to be towels and the light of wherever she was gave her skin a greenish tint. "Oh my God. For a moment there I was afraid it wasn't going to work."

"Evelyn, are you okay?" Jeff asked. Evelyn's eyes had been scanning all of them but when he spoke her green eyes snapped to Jeff.

"I'm fine," she replied with a small nod before going back to looking over all five of them. "You guys look horrible."

"You don't look much better," Gordon laughed. For a moment all five on board the station chuckled at Evelyn's attempt to lighten the mood. "Evie, where are you?"

"Oh…..um," she hesitated and bit her lip, glancing around her location nervously. 

Virgil looked careful at the little of her surroundings that he was able to see and thought that they looked familiar. After a few seconds, it hit him as to where she was. "Evelyn, why are you on my 'bird?"

The other four occupants glanced back at Virgil as Evelyn grinned sheepishly on the screen. "Setting some traps."

"What kind of traps?" Gordon asked amidst the talk of 'get off of there now' coming from the other four on the station. 

They stopped talking when he asked this and looked over at him for a moment before looking back at Evelyn's face on the screen.

"Can of pink paint above the door and Virgil's iPod alarm clock in the vent up on the command deck," she replied, looking slightly nervous as she waited for their reaction. "On the iPod is several hours' worth of yodeling and 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.' It's set to go off in about thirty minutes."

All five men up on the station burst out laughing. Gordon shook his head and asked, "Why is it that you never want to prank with me?"

"It's more of your thing them mine," she replied with a shrug. Onboard the station, another warning alarm went off for a moment. The laughter stopped as they all began to be lifted into the air.

"And there goes the artificial gravity," Scott stated. 

On the screen, Evelyn small smile was replaced with concern as her family tried their best to float near the screen. "You guys will be okay, I know it."

"Evelyn," Jeff began with a sigh. She cut him off before he could say another word.

"NO! You guys will be fine. You have to be. For over an hour earlier I thought Alan was dead! And I only recently found out that he, Fermat and Tin-Tin are still alive. You guys  _have_  to be okay," she finished as her voice broke and she looked away from the screen. 

All those on the station wished, for not the first time that day, that they were down on the island. Evelyn whipped her eyes before turning back to the screen. Over the connection, a beeping was heard. She looked down to the bottom of her screen and they watched as her eyes widened. "No, no, no! Damn it!"

"What is it?" Jeff asked, not even bothering to say something about her language.

"I never got to put this thing on the charger this morning," she replied, looking back towards them; John in particular. "After I talked to you."

"How much battery do you have left?" John asked as he floated in front of the console.

"About five percent," she replied, looking back up at him. "I better go. I'll see you guys later."

"Evie," John began but just as with Jeff, she cut him off. 

"No! I will see you guys later. Okay? I love you."

With that, the window went black and closed, indicating that she had closed the conversation. Nothing was said in the station as the five Tracy's floated. Not only was the low level of oxygen making them feel incredibly sleepy but none of them wanted to deny the strong hope that Evelyn had in their survival.

Down on Earth inside the supply closet onboard Thunderbird Two, Evelyn replaced the closed laptop into her backpack and leaned back against the shelf. She bit her lip and swallowed the growing lump in her throat. 

Closing that laptop had been one of the hardest things she had ever had to do and what she had said was mostly to reassure herself more so than them. They had to live, they just had to.


	29. To London

  **Chapter Twenty Eight-To London**

After throwing Lady Penelope, Parker, and Alan into the freezer, the Hood and his minions took the elevator down to Thunderbird Two's silo and entered the belly of the craft. 

The Hood, Transom, and Mullion walked down the hallway towards the lift, unaware that they were not the only people in the giant craft.

Halfway to the lift, Transom stopped in the hallway and pulled a lever that was placed on the wall. Alarms sounded as the pod carrying the Mole was lifted up into the belly of the craft. After the doors on the bottom of the giant green machine were closed, it legs lowered it down onto the rolling launch platform that would take it outside. 

Smiling to herself, Transom caught up to the Hood and Mullion in the lift. Just after she entered, the doors closed and the lift began its ascent.

When the lift reached the command deck a few moments later and the doors slid open, Transom and Mullion entered the room first and unknowingly activated the trap just as Evelyn had wanted it to. As Transom headed to install the guidance processor, the can of paint over the door fell as the twine was pulled out of its knot and the light pink paint splashed all over the Hood.

Mullion and Transom turned around to see their boss covered in the pink paint, and very angry. He briefly closed his eyes as he stepped away from the swinging bucket and moved towards the pilot's seat. 

Transom and Mullion took after his lead and said nothing about the paint. Mullion sat down in one of the co-pilots seats while Transom finished installing the guidance processor. The Hood sat down in the pilot's seat and wiped the paint out of his eyes and Transom sat down in the second co-pilot seat.

"Guidance processor installed. Initiating launch sequence," the monotone voice of the computer announced. The Hood smiled as Thunderbird Two moved forward on its launch platform and the nose of the green craft emerged from a cave behind the villa and the computer announced that all systems were green. 

As Thunderbird Two was tilted up on its launch pad, loud yodeling began to echo through the ventilation system in the command deck.

The smile that had been on the Hood's face disappeared as Thunderbird Two lifted into the air. Alan Tracy had not done this nor had he set up the paint can above the door. He had not had the time to sneak into the silos and do that after they had loaded the Mole into the craft. And the list of suspects was quite short considering that all those that opposed him were either in a dying space station or locked in a freezer. 

Apparently, the professor had not been entirely truthful when he had said that Jeff Tracy's daughter was at school.

* * *

Evelyn sighed as she sat in the supply closet in Thunderbird Two, leaning up against the shelf behind her. It had been an hour since her laptop battery had died and her conversation with her elder brothers and father. She had cried for a little bit after she had closed up her computer, hoping beyond hope that the words she had said to them had not been the last they would ever hear from her.

Thunderbird Two had taken off about half an hour after, just about the time the clock she had hidden in the vents of the command deck was set to go off. Hopefully, it worked and they were now being annoyed by constant yodeling echoing through the room. Served them right for invading their home and trying to kill her family.

Evelyn glanced down at the golden ring on her right hand, the aquamarine looking a dark green in the light of the closet. She had thought she had lost Alan earlier that day but to her utter relief, he had not been killed by Thunderbird One's engines. And if they all died up on Thunderbird Five, she had no idea what she would do. Especially since she had never managed to patch things up with her father. If he died, she'd probably be haunted by the fact that the last thing they had done was argue.

She raised her right hand to her neck and ran her fingers over the cold metal of the locket and pendant that hung around her neck. They needed to survive, they just had to survive. Wrapping her hand around the locket, Evelyn looked up towards the ceiling of the closet and closed her eyes. 

_Mom, please let them survive. I'm thankful that Alan is alive but please help all those on Thunderbird Five survive. Please help dad, Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon come home. I need them._

Evelyn's eyes snapped opened as she felt the craft shift ever so slightly and she blinked drowsily as her surroundings came into focus. Had she fallen asleep? They couldn't be arriving in London already? If they were, it was time for her to give the Hood a piece of her mind. 

Saying rude things about her and her family like Mr. Thomson did was one thing, but trying to kill them and use the Thunderbirds to rob banks was an entirely different story. And Evelyn was bound and determined not to let them get away with it. 


	30. Stay On the Ground

**Chapter Twenty Nine- Stay On the Ground**

Not long after Evelyn had felt Thunderbird Two shift, the alarms indicating that a pod was being lowered rang outside of the closet. Evelyn waited a few moments after the alarm stopped ringing before getting up. She grabbed her backpack off the floor and slung it over her shoulders before heading to the door. She carefully opened the door and stepped into chair lined room and closed the door behind her.

She quickly and quietly walked across the room to the doorway, eyes scanning all around to make sure that they were not around. When she got to the doorway, she stopped and looked all around the area containing the pods. The pod containing the Mole was lowered and she could see the bright sunlight of an English afternoon below.

She walked over to the lowered pod and saw that the Mole was gone; a giant hole in the ground was visible a few yards away from the platform. She carefully began to walk down the platform towards the ground. 

About halfway down to the platform, she heard the squeal of breaks and looked up to see that Thunderbird One had landed beside the great green craft. Three of the four occupants of the craft climbed out and began to run towards Thunderbird Two.

Evelyn smiled as she walked down the rest of the way and met a running Alan, Fermat, and Tin-Tin at the bottom of the platform. As soon as Alan noticed her standing there, a huge grin formed on his face. "Evie!"

As soon as he reached her, Evelyn pulled him into a tight hug and relished the fact that he was alive. "You're okay! But, what are you doing here?"

"Since Thunderbird Three lost a booster and wouldn't be able to get here fast enough, dad let us and Lady Penelope come ahead," he explained as he pulled out of the tight hug and Evelyn ruffled his hair. 

Evelyn's smile grew even wider as her hand fell back to her side. "They're okay?"

"Yeah. They're okay," he replied with a small laugh. "They're on their way here actually."

"Sorry to break up this moment," Tin-Tin said with a sheepish smile. "But there is a monorail that needs saving."

"What happened to the monorail?" Evelyn asked in confusion. Boy, had she missed a lot while she had been cut off in the closet.

"T-the Mole w-went through one of the sub-supports," Fermat replied. Evelyn nodded that she understood.

"I thought you said Lady Penelope came too?" Evelyn asked as she noticed that the pink loving women they had said had come over with them was nowhere in sight.

"She went ahead to the Bank," Tin-Tin replied.

"You guys handle the monorail. I'll stay down here," Evelyn stated after looking around for a moment.

"Are you sure?" Alan asked, turning back to look at her as he, Fermat and Tin-Tin headed up the platform.

"I'm sure. Just beware of the paint just inside the doorway and Virgil's iPod clock in one of the small vents. Now go," she replied, turning and walking away from Thunderbird Two so that they could raise the platform once Alan was inside. 

Alan looked confused for a moment about the paint and the clock but walked the rest of the way up the platform as Evelyn walked away. She back up cautiously towards the crowd that watched as the platform was raised back into the belly of Thunderbird Two.

The crowd around the two machines and the police forces that were keeping them back barely noticed as she joined them, so busy watching as Thunderbird Two lifted off the ground and headed towards the monorail. As Evelyn did her best to blend in with the crowd, she watched as the support for the monorail collapsed and one of the monorail cars fell into the Thames River.

Evelyn carefully made her way through the crowd who barely noticed her as they watched as Thunderbird Four was lowered down and dropped into the river, the craft disappeared into the dark waters of the Thames after a few seconds. 

As she broke through the last of the crowd, she quickly moved away from the mass of people and sat down on a nearby bench. Suddenly thankful that she had grabbed her skates that morning, she pulled them out of her backpack and began to pull them onto her feet.

Slipping her shoes into her backpack, she zipped it up and slung the backpack onto her shoulders as she stood. While she had been burning the music onto Virgil's iPod that morning, she had looked up a map as to where the Bank of England was located. Glancing over at Thunderbird Two above the river, Evelyn took a deep breath and began to skate towards the bridge. 


	31. Dash to the Bank

**Chapter Thirty- Dash to the Bank**

Getting to and over the bridge was easier than Evelyn had expected. It seemed that everyone had stopped whatever they were doing to watch what was happening to the monorail. Buses were stopped and cars sat idle on the bridge as all had quickly run to the side of the bridge to watch the events unfold over the river and no one paid any mind to an American teenager skating through the streets of London.

Evelyn had just crossed the bridge and was approaching the next cross street when the sound of approaching rockets caught her attention. She stopped where she was on the sidewalk and looked up to see the red paint of Thunderbird Three fly overhead and towards Jubilee Gardens where Thunderbird One sat on the ground. Evelyn smiled after the craft before starting to skate again. 

_They made it. They made it!_  Evelyn punched the air, gaining some strange looks from the few people out on the streets. Evelyn smiled as she skated the short distance to the next street and stopped to look for oncoming traffic before crossing.

Traffic was also very light in this part of the city, for it seemed all those that were not able to witness the events over the Thames in person went somewhere that they could watch it on television. Foot traffic was also very light and this just made it even easier for Evelyn to skate as fast as she could through London.

When she stopped a few minutes later at the next street, Evelyn spotted a sign that told her that the Bank of England was just a block away. 

As she began to skate again, Evelyn's forehead creased in concentration as she skated as fast as she could. She was almost there. Soon the Hood would be face to face with a very angry Evelyn Tracy.

* * *

"Glad you could finally join us," Alan greeted as he and Tin-Tin climbed up the stairs to the waterside and met up with those who had come on Thunderbird Three. Jeff pulled Alan into a tight hug as his other four sons watched with a smile.

"Don't go getting cocky after one mission," Jeff said as he let go of Alan but kept an arm around his youngest son's shoulders as his Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon moved forward to greet their younger brother. Tin-Tin stood off to the side and watched the reunion with a smile.

Alan looked around the group that was gathered near the stairs and his smile soon turned to a frown. "Where's Evie?"

"We thought she was with you," Gordon replied as he stepped away from Alan after ruffling his blond hair. Alan shook his head.

"No," Alan began. "She said she was going to stay down here. I thought that she was going to wait down here for you guys."

"She did ask where Lady Penelope went," Tin-Tin added. 

The six Tracy's all looked towards her and all of them had different levels of concern written on their faces. Tin-Tin then realized what they were thinking. "She wouldn't go there by herself, would she?"

"She would," Jeff replied with a groan. One situation had been diverted and now his daughter had decided to go after the Hood in her anger. 

Whenever she got angry she would often act without thinking about the consequences of her actions, though that seemed to be a trait that all six of his children had inherited. Though John seemed to have inherited it to a lesser degree. Jeff then looked to his four eldest children. "We still have a dangerous situation here. I need you, boys, to close down this accident scene. Once you boys are done here, met us at the bank."

Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon weren't very happy about their orders but went to complete them as quickly as possible, though Jeff did catch a few of them grumbling under their breath. He then turned to Alan and Tin-Tin beside him. "Tin-Tin, go get Fermat and meet us at Thunderbird One. Alan, you come with me."

Tin-Tin nodded and began to run over to where Thunderbird Two had landed beside Thunderbird One and Three. Jeff, with his arm still around Alan's shoulders, began to lead the two of them towards Thunderbird One.


	32. Face to Face

**Chapter Thirty One- Face to Face**

When Evelyn reached the bank, she was amazed at how easy it was to enter. No guards, no security, nothing.

The first thing she did was remove her skates and placed them into her backpack before pulling her shoes back onto her feet. With her backpack slung over one shoulder, she moved down a hallway into the bank, searching for some sign of the Mole.

When she neared the end of the hallway, she spotted the large form of the digging machine coming up from the floor and creating a large hole in the wall.

She pulled her backpack off her shoulder and set it up against the wall. The last thing she needed was for something to happen to it and destroy her laptop.

She walked up to where the Mole sat in the hole and saw the Hood standing before the front of the Mole in the larger room. Metal beams were erected around the room with several walkways between them here and there.

Transom was across the room pulling jewels out of a safe and Mullion was in a safe cell tying up Lady Penelope. Before he left the cell, Mullion grabbed Penelope's cheeks and pushed them together as she glared at him.

Evelyn watched as he left the cell and walked over to where the Hood stood with his fingertips pressed together just before his face. "The Thunderbirds are here."

"Wow," Evelyn began as she stepped over the rubble around the base of the Mole and walked into the room. The Hood, Transom, Mullion and Lady Penelope looked towards her. "Somebody's really observant."

"Evelyn no! Get out of here," Lady Penelope called as Evelyn stopped a few feet away from where they stood before the door to the cell and watched what the Hood was going to do.

Mullion moved to walk towards her but the Hood raised a hand and he stopped in his tracks. "You two take care of the others while I deal with Evelyn."

Evelyn stood still as Transom and Mullion walked past her, Mullion sneering at her. She paid them no mind as her eyes were narrowed in on the Hood. The Hood smiled as he stepped towards her. "So, you are Jeff Tracy's daughter."

"That's right. And you're the man who tried to kill my family," she replied, her anger beginning to boil to a head. At her sides, her hands were curled into fists. "No one messes with my family and gets away with it."

As she stepped forward with the intent of hitting the man as hard as she could, sharp pain reverberated through her skull. Evelyn screamed and brought her hands up to cradle her head. As the pain continued, her knees buckled and she fell to the floor, her knees slamming hard against the marble floor.

As the pain faded, Evelyn knelt on the floor as the Hood laughed where he stood a few feet away. _I forgot he had some sort of mind powers!_

"Evelyn!"

At the call of her name, she looked over to the hole in the wall she had just come through herself to see her father running towards her, not even noticing the Hood who stood nearby.

"Jeff no! It's a trap!" Penelope yelled from where she was tied up in the cell. As he reached Evelyn who was beginning to push herself to her feet, Jeff looked towards the Hood as he helped her stand up before stepping in front of her.

"Ah, Jeff. Come to rescue your princesses. Couldn't leave them to die as you had me?" the Hood asked as he stepped towards Jeff and Evelyn.

Evelyn moved slightly to the side to see past her father as she watched the conversation between them. They both glanced back at her when she spoke, "You can't always save everyone. No one can."

"It's not me you two have to convince," the Hood replied, gesturing with his head over to the hole in the wall where Alan stood watching.

Jeff glared at the Hood as he stepped forward, only to be thrown backward into the cell before the door to it slammed shut. Evelyn watched as her father was thrown back before stepping towards the Hood herself, only to have him do the same thing to her and be thrown back into the wall on the right side of the cell.

"Dad!" Alan yelled as he ran forward towards the cell as Evelyn was thrown against the wall. Evelyn groaned as she sat up and stretched her shoulders as she watched as Alan turned to face the Hood.

"Alan, I thought we were kindred spirits," the Hood commented, his eyes glancing back into the cell at Jeff, who was sitting up after his hard collision with the back bars of the cell.

"We're not. I'm Jeff Tracy's son," Alan replied firmly as he took a step towards the Hood.

"That you are," the Hood stated as he raised his hand and threw Alan against the wall on to the left of the cell.

"Alan!" Jeff and Evelyn yelled.

Evelyn slowly stood up as Jeff made his way to the left side of the cell and looked over at Alan through the shelves. Alan looked over at the Hood and both he and his sister watched as he turned around before spinning into the air and landing on the platform above the Mole.

Evelyn watched from the other side of the room as Alan stood and ran towards where he had been standing moments ago, ignoring the protests from Jeff and Lady Penelope. The Hood raised a hand and Alan was lifted off the floor, where the Hood began to choke him.

"Let him go!" Jeff yelled as he crawled the front of the cell and looked up at where Alan was being choked several feet off the floor.

Evelyn's eyes were wide as she looked around the room for some way to distract the Hood. Her eyes landed on metal rungs on the beam that held up the platform that the Hood stood on that allowed someone to climb up there.

As her father and Lady Penelope kept calling for the Hood to stop, Evelyn ran forward and grabbed the first rung and began to climb up towards the platform. She quickly reached the top and swung herself off the rungs and onto the platform. The Hood had not noticed her yet for he was still smiling as he continued to choke Alan.

"Let go of my brother!" she growled as she rushed towards him and rammed into his side, pushing him into the beam on the other side of the platform.

As his concentration on holding Alan up in the air broke, the blonde fell down to the floor and began to cough and rub his throat as he looked up at the platform.

Evelyn stepped back as the Hood straightened up. He raised his hand and Evelyn saw his eyes turned red and the pupils turn to slits as her legs began to move of the own accord over the edge of the platform.

Evelyn screamed as the solid mass beneath her feet disappeared and quickly reached up to grab the edge of the platform.

"Evelyn!" three voices yelled from the ground below.

She looked straight down and noticed herself dangling near the front of the Moles blades. A few feet to her left, a few chains dangled from the platform and as she began to shuffle towards them, hoping that she could grab a hold of them and lower herself to the ground just in front of the Mole.

Behind her, she heard her father and Lady Penelope yell, "Alan! No!"


	33. Defeat

**Chapter Thirty-Two - Defeat**

Evelyn looked down from where she was dangling to see her younger brother heading towards the Mole, his eyes locked on the Hood. Evelyn shuffled a few more feet to her left to where she was in line with the chains and the Mole was no longer underneath her. 

She glanced over at where Alan was now climbing the Mole and looked up as the Hood raised his hands and the blades of the digging machine began to rotate.

"Alan!" she heard her father yell as he grabbed a hold of the bottom railing on the other side of the platform. 

Evelyn glanced down at the chains and bit her lip as she let go of the platform. She reached forward to grab the chains as she dropped only to have them slip through her hands. She screamed as she felt the chains take the skin of the palms of her hands as she continued to fall.

Her feet hit the floor a moment later and her legs crumpled beneath her. She landed in an awkward position on her back and the impact with the floor knocked all the air out of her lungs. 

She bit her lip and winced as pain welled up in her right ankle and she knew she had immediately that it was sprained from the numerous times she had gotten the same injury during her first few years of cheerleading.

"NO!" she heard someone scream from the other side of the room. 

Looking up, she immediately knew why someone had screamed. Alan dangled by one hand over the Mole, the Hood looming over him and threatening to use his foot to push the boy's remaining hand off the bar. Though the scream had distracted the Hood and he now looked to the far side of the room.

Evelyn winced as she used her hands to push herself into a sitting position. She then saw that the Hood was staring down at Tin-Tin, who stared right back up at him as she clutched her necklace tightly in her hands. 

Above her head, the platform flipped to where Alan was now on the railing, looking down at the Hood as he dangled over the Mole.

Evelyn glanced quickly towards Tin-Tin and watched as the girl clutched her head and sank to her knees. She then looked back up at Alan and the Hood on the platform above her. "Going to leave me to die Alan."

The Hood let one hand fall and briefly glanced down at the spinning Mole beneath him before looking back up at Alan. "Like your father?"

"I don't want to save your life," Alan replied through clenched teeth. The Hood glanced back down at the Mole for a moment before letting go of the railing with the one hand that had remained. Alan quickly reached down with both hands and grabbed the man's arm. "But it's what we do."

Evelyn smiled as she watched Alan glance up to look at their father, who knelt at the door of the cell and smiled up at Alan through the bars. "Way to go sprout!"

Alan and Jeff both looked towards where Evelyn sat down on the floor a few feet in front of the Mole. Alan smiled as he looked down at her. "Thanks, Evie!"

Evelyn looked away from him after a few moments and began to push herself to her feet, wincing the entire time from the pain of her ankle and her hands. 

She limped around the Mole and moved towards the cell that her father and Penelope were locked in. Jeff noticed the limp and frowned. "Why are you limping?"

"Sprained my ankle when I hit the floor," Evelyn explained as she reached the cell and carefully knelt down before the lock. She looked past her father to Lady Penelope. "Do you have any bobbin pins in your hair?"

"Yes, I do," she replied, looking slightly confused.

"Dad, can you grab one of them for me so I can pick the lock?" she asked. Jeff stood up and walked over the where Penelope was tied up and pulled a bobbin pin out of her hair.

"Where did you learn to pick a lock?" he asked as he came back to the cell door and handed her the pin, while Evelyn carefully hid the bloody cut on her palms. She gingerly took the pin between her fingers and began to work on the lock.

"My high school roommate kept forgetting her key and was constantly picking the lock," Evelyn replied. "I asked her to teach me how just in case something ever happened to mine."

"Alan!" came a yell from the doorway. 

Evelyn looked away from the lock and her and her father both looked towards the doorway. Fermat was helping Tin-Tin to her feet and Parker was heading towards the cell while Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon looked up at Alan on the platform, who still hung on to a dangling Hood.

"Boys! Turn that thing off!" Jeff yelled as Evelyn finished undoing the lock on the cell door. 

As Scott and Virgil ran towards the Mole to shut it off, Parker helped Evelyn pull the door open. Parker went into the cell to release Lady Penelope, as Jeff pulled Evelyn into a tight hug. Unlike the last few times the two had hugged, she gladly returned it. 


	34. Reunited

**Chapter Thirty Three- Reunited**

The room became almost silent once the Mole was turned off. Jeff released Evelyn, who smiled up at him. In the doorway appeared three police officers, Mullion between them. 

Evelyn's arms dropped to her sides as one of the three officers moved towards the Mole to take the Hood from Alan. John and Gordon walked over to Jeff and Evelyn, as the other two officers and Mullion followed the other as the one officer reached the Hood.

"Dad, why is there blood on your back?" John asked. Jeff turned around to look at him and when he did, Evelyn caught sight of the two spots of blood on his back roughly where her hands had been.

"It's not his," she stated. Jeff, John, and Gordon looked over at her. 

Biting her lip, she lifted up her hands and showed them her bloody palms. Three pairs of eyes went wide at the sight of her hands. Jeff reached forward and took one of her hands in his as he looked at the cut.

"How did you get those?" John asked as he and Gordon looked over his father's shoulder at her hand.

"Fell from the platform and tried to grab a chain on the way down," she replied, glancing over at where the officers had taken the Hood from Alan and was now being carried by Mullion. Alan then began to move towards the beam that Evelyn had climbed up earlier. 

Evelyn looked back to her father, John, and Gordon to see them looking at her. "Needless to say, it didn't work."

"I'll say," Gordon commented. "Virgil's going to go into medical mode once he sees this."

"She also sprained her ankle," Jeff added as he released her hand and looked over her shoulder. 

Over by the beam, Alan was down on the floor and being hugged by Scott and Virgil. Gordon moved around Jeff, grabbed Evelyn's right arm and put it over his shoulders. Evelyn smiled at her twin and leaned into his side as the four moved towards where Alan, Scott, and Virgil stood.

"Hey sprout," Evelyn greeted as John and Jeff moved forward to hug the teen. Scott and Virgil moved out of the way to let their father and John near their youngest sibling and moved forward to greet Evelyn. 

Scott gave her a tight half hug, as she was still leaning against Gordon. Alan smiled towards her as Jeff released him before also smiling toward Evelyn. Virgil noticed the swollen ankle and the bloody right hand and looked concerned as he too gave her a hug.

"What did you do?" he asked, looking more closely at the hand that was on Gordon's shoulder.

"Tried to grab that chain up there as I fell. Didn't work so when I hit the floor, my ankle twisted wrong," she explained. At the mention of the chain, five heads looked up and spotted it a few feet away.

Virgil looked away from the chain and back at his sister. "I'll clean those up in Thunderbird Two and put some ice one your foot. And I want you to stay in the infirmary on the way home. You too John."

"Okay," she replied and John also nodded in agreement. Normally she would have argued and would say that she was fine, but right now she was willing to do anything they said because she was just so happy that her family was alive.

"Since we know that Evelyn, John, and Virgil are going in Thunderbird Two, Gordon you can come with me in Three. Scott in One with Alan?" Jeff asked, looking down at the blond he currently had his arm around. Alan looked up at Jeff and nodded. "That just leaves Fermat and Tin-Tin. Take your pick."

"I'd also like to go in Thunderbird One Mr. Tracy," Tin-Tin replied as she and Fermat approached from where they had been standing a few feet off to the side to give the family some privacy.

"I-I'd like to go in T-Two Mr. Tracy," Fermat replied in his usual stutter.

"Okay. Since that's settled, let's go home," Jeff stated, leading the way towards the entrance to the room with his arm around Alan, followed shortly by the rest of the Tracy family, Fermat, and Tin-Tin.

* * *

"There we go," Virgil commented as he secured a bandage around Evelyn's right hand. Her left hand was already bandaged and she sat on one of the beds in the infirmary of Thunderbird Two, an ice pack on her ankle. One the bed to her left, John sat watching as Virgil finished up with their sister's hand.

"Thanks, Virge," she replied with a smile as Virgil replaced the supplied he had used to clean up her hands back into a drawer.

"Once we get home, I wanna take a better look at your ankle," Virgil commented as he closed the door and turned back to face his siblings. 

Evelyn smiled and shook her head. "It's just a sprain Virgil."

He walked forward and stood before Evelyn and set a hand on her shoulder. "I just want to make sure that's all that is wrong with it."

"Sure doc," she replied with a small smirk. Virgil smiled and mussed her bangs before heading towards the door of the room. 

He stopped and turned around at the doorway. "I'll see you guys when we get home."

"Later Virgil!" John and Evelyn called after him as he disappeared into the belly of Thunderbird Two. 

On the bed beside her John laid down against the mattress, being careful of his arm and the burn on the back of his shoulder. Evelyn followed his lead and settled down against the mattress, resting her head on the pillow. After a few moments of silence, Evelyn turned her head towards John to see him looking over at her. "What?"

"Just glad that you're okay," he replied with a small smile.

"Wait a minute," she began. "Shouldn't I be the one saying that about you? I spent most of the day in a vent while you were one on a space station when a missile hit it."

The small smile on his face faded away and he looked back up at the ceiling. Evelyn pushed herself up onto her elbow so she could look over at him better. "John?"

"Not long after I sent the mayday, I figured out that it wasn't just a meteor that struck Thunderbird Five, but that it had been targeted instead," he said softly, still staring up at the ceiling. "I started to regret sending the mayday because I began to think, 'what if I just lead them into a trap?'"

"Even if you had told them not to come, they still would have. You wouldn't be able to convince them otherwise," she replied. "We're a pretty stubborn family."

Evelyn saw the corners of his mouth twitch as he continued to look up at the ceiling. "That we are."

Before Evelyn could say anything in reply, Virgil's voice came on over the intercom. "Evelyn, you are so lucky you have a twisted ankle else I would make you clean up all the pink paint up here."

"I guess Fermat forgot to warn him," Evelyn stated after the intercom cut off. "I wonder if he's gotten his clock out of the vent yet."

"I wonder if the thing is still going," John commented with a chuckle as he looked over at Evelyn.

"I'm sure if it was he would probably have said something about it," Evelyn replied, dropping her arm back to her side and resting her head on the pillow once more. 

The room was silent for a moment before John asked, "What all did you do in the house?"

Evelyn glanced over at him for a moment and smirked. 

"Well," she began as she looked back up at the ceiling as she told John all she had set up during the fifteen minutes before the Hood had reached their father's office and Thunderbird Three had reached the station. 


	35. Home

 

**Chapter Thirty-Four - Home**

"Evelyn? Evie, time to wake up," Virgil said as he gently shook his sister's shoulder.

Evelyn groaned and blinked sleepily up at her brother as he came into focus. She glanced over at the bed John had been laying on to see him already sitting up, watching as Virgil woke her.

She blinked several times as she regained her bearings and with Virgil's help, sat up on the bed. "I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Well, you can go back to sleep once I check out your ankle. John, you come to," Virgil instructed as he helped Evelyn off the bed, putting her right arm around his shoulder to keep her up. "I want to check out your arm and that burn on you back."

"Okay," John replied and with Virgil helping Evelyn, the three siblings made their way out of the room and into the belly of Thunderbird Two.

The belly was empty, since Thunderbird Four and the Mole were still in London, being carefully watched until they would return to pick them up. Fermat and Brains were walking down the platform; Brains had his arm around his son as they walked.

John, Evelyn, and Virgil walked down the platform slowly after them. Once they were on the ground, they made their way over to the elevator where Brains and Fermat were waiting for them. Once they were inside the lift, the clear doors closed and it began to take them up to the house.

When the elevator stopped once it reached the third level of the house, the doors opened and the three Tracy's inside the lift simply stood there for a moment while Brains and Fermat stepped out into the hallway.

"It's good to be home," John stated with a sigh after a few moments. Evelyn and Virgil looked towards him, both smiling as they nodded their agreement with the statement.

"Come on. Let's get you two cleaned up," Virgil commented as he and Evelyn stepped forward off the lift, John on the other side of Virgil.

They walked down the hallway, past their rooms and to the staircase. Evelyn smiled as Virgil helped her down the stairs, glad that Kyrano and Onaha had cleaned up the oil and banana peels off the floor and staircase.

After a few minutes of the three going slowly down the staircase due to Evelyn's ankle, they reached the second floor of the house and headed down the hallway. They went past the movie room and the music room before they reached the infirmary of the island. It was a good size room with two beds, a bathroom and anything Virgil needed to fix almost any injury.

The automatic door to the room slid open and they stepped inside to see Alan already sitting on one of the beds, with Jeff, Scott and Gordon gathered around him.

After leading Evelyn to the second bed and having John sit down on it beside her, Virgil went over to his youngest sibling. "What's wrong sprout?"

"We got home within a few minutes of each other. So when we were on the elevator up to the house, Alan and I were joking around and I jabbed him in the ribs, causing him to yelp," Gordon explained, looking guilty that he had caused his younger brother pain.

Virgil had Alan lift his shirt and all those in the room gasped at the bruises that were on his body. One particularly large and dark one on his right side caught their attention. Virgil gently prodded it and Alan hissed in pain.

"When I x-ray John's arm and Evelyn's ankle, I'd like to take one of your ribs," said Virgil as he motioned for Alan to lower his shirt. "I think one or two may be cracked. It may not have been that bad initially but I doubt that you holding onto the Hood for as long as you did helped it at all."

"But before any of you do anything," Onaha began as she walked into the room carrying a plate of sandwiches. "You must eat something. None of you have eaten anything since breakfast."

She set the plate down on the small end table between the two beds before heading back to the door. "You start on those and I will go get you something to drink."

"Thanks, Onaha!" the seven people in the room called after her before the door slid closed. Evelyn leaned over and grabbed two sandwiches, one for herself and the other she handed to John beside her.

Soon all seven of them were eating and beginning to realize just how hungry the events of the past few hours had left them. Though Evelyn's bandaged hands made it a little difficult for her to eat she somehow managed to do it without losing the contents of the sandwich.


	36. Diagnoses

  **Chapter Thirty-Five - Diagnoses**

After all seven Tracy's had eaten their fill of the sandwiches Onaha had provided for them, Virgil chased Jeff, Scott, and Gordon out of the room so he would have more room to work.

Once they were gone, he quickly pulled out the portable x-ray machine and starting with John's arm, took the x-ray's he wanted of his three siblings. Once he was finished taking all the picture's that he needed, he went out and asked one of those out in the hallway to go get John a clean pair of clothes to change into after Virgil looked at the burn on his back.

When Scott knocked on the door a few minutes later, he handed John a clean set of clothes before being shooed out once more by Virgil. Once the door slid shut, Virgil helped John take off the sling on his arm before helping him pull off the top half of his Thunderbird flight suit to reveal the white undershirt that seemed to be just as dirty as the suit had been. On his upper right arm there was a deep gash and just above his right shoulder blade was a black burn mark the size of a softball.

With Virgil's help, John pulled the shirt off to reveal a multitude of bruises that rivaled Alan's, the cut on his arm was indeed very deep, and the burn on his back wasn't black as expected but still quite bad.

Virgil quickly went to a cabinet and grabbed supplies to clean and bandage both the cut and the burn before returning to where John sat on the bed beside Evelyn.

John took in a sharp breath when Virgil put antiseptic on the cut and cleaned it as best he could. Virgil glanced up from his work and smiled sympathetically up at John. "You think this hurts, wait till I get to that burn on you back."

"Oh yeah. Give him something to look forward to Virge," Alan commented sarcastically from where he sat on the other bed.

As Virgil wrapped gauze around John's arm, he glared over his shoulder at Alan. Evelyn covered her mouth with her hand to hide a snigger. Though Virgil missed it, John hadn't and smiled over at her.

"Okay," Virgil stated as he moved around to the other side of the bed to look at the burn on John's back. "This isn't as bad as I thought. Looks to be only a second-degree burn. Any luck and it will be mostly healed in a week or two."

"Well, that's goo-OW!" John exclaimed as Virgil began to clean the burn and the area of skin surrounding it.

Virgil grimaced. "Sorry. I told you it would hurt."

After a few minutes and a few more sharp intakes of breath from John, Virgil was soon putting a clean gauze pad over the burn. Once it was secure, Virgil helped John pull on the pale yellow t-shirt that Scott had grabbed for him before putting his arm back into the sling.

John then stood, being careful with his right arm in the process and looked towards Virgil as he grabbed his clean pair of pants off the bed. "I'm gonna need some help."

Virgil smiled softly before heading to the door and pushing the button to the side of it so it would open. The door slid open and Virgil stuck his head out into the hall. "You guys can come in now. And one of you needs to help John finish changing."

"I'll go," Scott replied as he walked into the room, followed shortly by Jeff and Gordon.

As John and Scott walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind them, Jeff sat down on the bed next to Alan while Gordon sat down next to Evelyn. Virgil reappeared from the cabinet that stored the printer for the x-ray machine and pulled out the stack of pictures he had taken. He pulled one out of the stack and held it up above his head, towards the lights in the ceiling.

"Good news sprout. It's only a hairline fracture, though you managed to fracture three different ribs," Virgil explained, bringing the picture down and replacing back into the pile as he smiled towards Alan. Jeff placed an arm around the blonde's shoulders and the teen leaned carefully against him. "You should be completely healed in six weeks but you should be just fine to go back to school as long as you take an easy."

At that moment the door to the bathroom opened and John and Scott walked out, John now wearing a pair of white shorts to go with his clean shirt. Scott carried the dirty Thunderbird flight suit in his arms as the two re-entered the room. Scott set the suit down in the chair sitting beside the bed Alan and their father were on.

Virgil flipped through the x-rays he had taken for a few moments before pulling one out and holding it up the same way he had the first time. "John, you are incredibly lucky. No break or anything. Just a sprained wrist."

Virgil smiled over at where John and Scott were standing just beside the bed that their father and youngest brother sat on. Scott put an arm over his younger brother's shoulders.

Virgil replaced the x-ray of John's arm into the pile before searching for a few seconds and pulling out another one. He held this one up above his head just as he had the other two.

"You were right Evie," Virgil began as he lowered the picture and returned it to the stack he hand in his hands. "Just how many times have you sprained your ankle?"

All eyes in the room looked towards her as she looked deep in thought, counting off the number on her fingers and occasionally shaking her head as she muttered to herself. "Three or four times within the first three years of cheer and twice once I got onto the varsity squad."

"I think I remember seeing you on crutches once or twice now that I think about it," commented Gordon.

Over where he was sitting beside Jeff, Alan yawned. Jeff smiled down at him and squeezed the teen's shoulder.

"I think it's time we all get cleaned up and go to bed," Jeff stated with a chuckle.

Over on the opposite bed, Evelyn yawned. She then pointed over at Alan across from her in accusation though there was a small smile on her face. "See what you started."

 


	37. Confessions

**Chapter Thirty Six- Confessions** **  
March 15th, 2020**

Evelyn groaned as she stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom. After Virgil had wrapped up Alan's ribs and had given her a crutch so she would be able to get around the house on her own, the family had headed to their own rooms for the night.

Evelyn had managed to sleep for a few hours before waking up for no apparent reason. Now she had been tossing and turning for the last hour or so.

She winched as she used her hands to throw off her covers and pushed herself into a sitting position on the edge of her bed. She reached over and grabbed the crutch that was leaning against her nightstand and used it to pull herself up before heading towards the door.

She pulled open the door before stepping into the hallway. In the distance, she could make out the sound of Virgil playing the piano downstairs.

Down the hall, she saw the light on in John's room and the door opened a crack. From inside the room, she heard him and Scott talking quietly.

Using the crutch, she moved slowly down the hall towards the stairs. As she walked past Gordon's room, she could hear her twins snoring from behind the closed door and then moved past the open door of Alan's room towards the staircase.

* * *

After taking a shower and going to bed like the rest of his family had done, Jeff found that no matter how tired he was from the events of the past twenty-four hours, that he just couldn't fall asleep.

After several hours of tossing and turning, the Tracy patriarch finally decided that he wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon. So he pushed off the covers and got up out of the bed. After pulling on a baggy shirt, he walked to the door and pulled it open.

As Jeff entered the hallway, he could distantly hear Virgil playing the piano downstairs. Walking down the hallway where the bedrooms for his six children were located, Jeff found the door to John's room opened a crack and he could hear John and Scott talking softly inside the room.

He then passed Gordon's room and heard his second youngest son's snoring through the door. He looked towards Evelyn's door a few feet down and saw it open, and just beyond the door to Virgil's room, Alan's was also wide open.

As he began to wonder where his youngest son and daughter had gone, he heard the sound of someone using a crutch going down the stairs.

When he reached the top of the staircase a few moments later, he saw that Evelyn had reached the bottom of the stairs to the second floor and moved to go down the ones to the first floor of their home. Once her dark red hair was out of sight, Jeff made his way down the flight of stairs to the second floor.

* * *

Once Evelyn reached the ground floor of the house, she began to head towards the kitchen in the hopes that maybe getting something in her stomach would help her fall asleep. Halfway there, she noticed a head of blonde hair sitting down at the edge of the upper deck.

Turning away from the kitchen, she headed out to the deck. Her youngest brother sat in his pajama bottoms and a gray t-shirt, looking out towards the ocean in the distance. As she approached, Alan looked back over his shoulder at her. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I think Gordon is the only one asleep. I don't know about dad," she replied as she set the crutch down on the ground before slowly sitting down on the edge of the deck next to him. "How are the ribs?"

"Sore," he answered, looking back out towards the ocean in the distance. The bright moonlight reflected off the water. "How's the ankle?"

"It was worse the first time," she replied. The two siblings sat in silence for several minutes, unaware that their father was standing in the shadows of the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," Alan said softly after a few moments.

Evelyn looked over at him in confusion. "For what?"

"Scott told Tin-Tin and me how you mentioned that you thought we were dead," he replied, looking back over at Evelyn.

She smiled softly over at him before scooting closer and putting an arm around him, pulling him gently to her side. "Yeah, for a time I did think that."

"When we were out on the island, I didn't know where you were. I thought that they had captured or…or k-" Alan stopped, not able to say the word. Evelyn tightened her arm around him as he swallowed before continuing. "We only found out where you were once we managed to contact Thunderbird Five and get them back into orbit. For a split moment, I thought…."

"That you may be the last Tracy?" she finished for him. He glanced up at her before nodding and resting his head once more against her shoulder. "I don't think anything that has happened the past twenty-four hours is going to make my doctor any happier."

"Your doctor? What does he have to do with this?" Alan asked, lifting his head from her shoulder and pulling away to look at her. Her arm fell back to her side.

"He's the reason I came home early. It wasn't by choice. I was told to on doctor's orders," she replied.

"So they were right," Alan stated more to himself them Evelyn, though she heard and nodded in reply.

"That they were. The doctor told me I had to take at least two weeks off of school or risk getting an ulcer or heart disease. So I came up with the idea to come home early and spend two weeks here instead of one. And in two weeks I get to go back and finish the semester."

"So after all this, after all that's happened," Alan began. "You're just going to go back to school and stress yourself out again?"

"I won't stress myself out again. After I finish this semester, I'll stop being full time and become a part-time student," she replied, looking out towards the ocean. "Maybe even get into cheerleading again. It will take longer to get my degree, but I'll need it if I even want to come close to getting the job I want."

"What about becoming a Thunderbird?" he asked softly.

Evelyn looked back towards him and smiled sadly. "That dream is nothing but a dream for me. Dad will never let me. Not after my accident last year and rushing after the Hood without even a second thought yesterday."

"I went after him without a second thought," Alan replied. "Even after he choked me, I still thought I could beat him even though he came close to killing me."

Evelyn shook her head as she closed her eyes, doing her best to push the image of the Hood strangling Alan out of her mind. She took a deep breath before replying, "But before that, you saved the lives of those in that monorail car. I wouldn't be surprised if dad makes you three Thunderbird's in training after this. But that route is gone for me."

"But-"

"No Alan," she stated firmly, cutting him off. She looked over at him and the little irritation she had been feeling towards him for his persistence disappeared. "It's hard enough accepting that it's not going to happen for me, no matter how badly I wish it would, so can we please not talk about it."

"Okay," he replied softly.

Evelyn smiled softly as she once more put her arm around him and pulled him up against her side, being careful of his ribs. Alan once more rested his head against her shoulder as they looked towards the ocean in the distance.

After sitting for a little while in comfortable silence with Alan, Evelyn found that her eyelids were beginning to droop. She looked down at where Alan was resting his head against her and found that he too was starting to have a hard time staying awake. "I think it's time we went back to bed."

Alan sat up from her shoulder and Evelyn slid her arm off from around him while he yawned. "I think your right."

Reaching over and grabbing her crutch, Evelyn slowly managed to stand up once more, only once or twice wincing in pain from her hands.

Alan remained sitting and Evelyn looked back down at him. "You coming?"

"In a minute. Go ahead, Evie. I'll see you later," he replied, smiling up at her.

Evelyn smiled in response and used her free hand and reached over and ruffled his hair. "Love ya sprout."

"Love you too," he responded as she turned and began to head back into the house. She passed the kitchen and headed towards the stairs.

As she began to climb them, Jeff moved out of the shadow's that he had been standing in during their conversation and headed down towards the deck where Alan still sat.

 


	38. Nightmares

**Chapter Thirty Seven- Nightmares**

As Evelyn disappeared up the stairs on the way back to her bedroom, Jeff slowly walked out of the kitchen to the upper deck where his son was still sitting.

He would talk to her later, but first, he wanted to talk his somewhat distant youngest son. Alan made no movement as Jeff approached, making him wonder if the teen even heard him at all.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Jeff asked as he walked up to where Alan sat.

Alan quickly turned around at the sound of his father's voice and looked up at him in shock. "Dad?"

"Come on," Jeff began, kneeling down beside the teen to help him up. "Let's get you to bed."

"No," Alan replied, shaking his head as he looked away from his father.

Jeff sat down on the edge of the deck beside Alan, in the spot Evelyn had occupied a few moments prior. "Alan, you need your sleep."

"I can't dad," Alan stated, looking over at Jeff beside him. Tears rimmed the edges of his blue eyes, threatening to fall. "Every time I close my eyes, I-I relive it all. And the end is always the same. Always ending with you guys dying."

Alan looked down as his voice broke. When he closed his eyes and let out a choked sob, Jeff reached over and gently pulled Alan to him. Alan's arms went around his father's neck and he clung tightly to his shirt as he sobbed into his shoulder. Jeff closed his eyes tightly as his own tears threatened to fall.

"I was just so scared. Scared that I would never see you again," Alan whispered through his sobs.

Jeff nodded as he begun to rub small circles on Alan's back as he replied, "I was scared too."

Alan briefly lifted his head from his father's shoulder. His eyes were red and puffy and tears continued to slide down his cheeks. "You were?"

"Of course," Jeff replied, reaching one hand up to gently stroke Alan's sandy blond hair. "Scared for your brothers. Scared for Evelyn, and of course, I was scared for you. Especially when the Hood had you dangling over the Mole."

Alan let out another choked sob and once more buried his face in his father's shoulder. Jeff continued to hold the teen as tightly as he could, being careful of his sore ribs.

After a good while, Alan's sobs began to reside. Sniffling, Alan raised his head from Jeff's shoulder and looked up at his father with red eyes.

"Feel better?" Jeff asked, his own eyes slightly red as he rubbed small circles on the teens back. Alan nodded, whipping his nose as he sniffled again. "Think you can sleep now?"

"Yeah," he replied quietly, removing his hands from the tight grip they had had on his shirt. Jeff slid his arms out from around Alan and moved to stand.

Once he was up, he extended a hand down to Alan, which the teen gladly took. Jeff pulled him up and the second he was up on his feet, pulled him back into a hug. Alan wrapped his arms tightly around his father as Jeff bent his head down and kissed the top of his head.

"I love you, Alan. Don't ever forget that," Jeff whispered into Alan's hair.

Alan pulled away and looked up at Jeff and shook his head. "I won't dad."

"Come on. Let's get you up to bed now," Jeff stated, looking down at Alan with a smile as he released the teen from his arms.

Keeping one arm over Alan's shoulders, the two moved into the house and towards the stairs. They walked up the stairs in comfortable silence. When they reached the second floor, they could hear that Virgil was still playing the piano down the hall.

As they began to climb up the staircase to the third floor, a high pitched scream sounded from above them.

"Evelyn," Jeff muttered, as behind them Virgil appeared from the music room.

Removing his arm from around Alan's shoulders, Jeff ran up the stairs to the third floor with Alan and Virgil a few steps behind him. Upon reaching the landing, he noticed that the door to Evelyn's room was already open and the light was on.

Jeff entered the room to see Scott kneeling beside Evelyn, who had fallen out of her bed and was entangled in her covers. John and Gordon stood at his shoulders as he continued to try and wake her from her nightmare.

The three looked towards the door as he entered the room. Scott stood up and moved out of the way as Jeff moved forward and kneeled beside Evelyn.

A layer of sweat glistened on her forehead as she continued to toss and turn. Jeff grabbed her shoulders to stop her thrashing. "Evelyn! Evelyn, wake up!"

With a gasp, her green eyes shot open and looked around the room. Her breathing was heavy as she blinked a few times while she took in the concerned faces her father kneeling beside her and her five brothers looking down at her over his shoulder. "D-daddy?"

Before Jeff could say anything, Evelyn launched herself up and wrapped her arms around his neck as she began to sob into his shoulder.

Behind him, Scott turned to his brothers and nodded towards the door behind them. Scott moved over to Alan as the five brothers began to walk out of the room and put an arm around his shoulders before using his free hand to close the door behind them.

Without saying a word, the five brothers moved down the hall towards Alan's room while inside the room they had just left, Jeff sat back on his heels and wrapped his arms around his sobbing daughter.

 


	39. Emotional Release

**Chapter Thirty-Eight- Emotional Release**

As the five brothers entered Alan's room, John sat down on the chair at his desk while Virgil and Gordon sat down on his bed. Scott removed his arm from around his youngest sibling as he turned back to close the door, leaving it open a crack.

Alan walked over to his bed and sat down between Virgil and Gordon. As the siblings that sat on the bed leaned back against the wall, Scott sat down on the edge of Alan's desk beside where John sat in the chair.

Scott looked carefully across the room at his youngest brother. As the blond looked down at his lap, Scott was vaguely able to see that his eyes were red from crying. "Are you okay Alan?"

Alan looked up at his eldest brother and all four of his brothers were able to see that he had been crying not long ago.

Scott pushed himself away from the desk and walked across the room to kneel next to the bed and look at Alan in concern. "Why have you been crying?"

"Is it your ribs? Are they bothering you?" Virgil asked and he leaned forward from where he had been leaning against the wall.

Alan shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

"Then why have you been crying?" Virgil asked. "And why were you and dad coming up the stairs when Evelyn screamed?"

Scott glanced towards Virgil at his second question before looking back at Alan. "You were out of bed? Why were you out of bed?"

"Couldn't sleep," the teen replied with a shrug. "Nightmares."

That word alone told all his brother's why he had not been in his room. They were all having nightmares, though their reactions to their own were varied and so far none had been as bad as Evelyn's a few minutes prior.

"I'm guessing dad found you downstairs," John stated from where he sat. Four faces turned to look at him before Alan nodded in reply and looked back down at his lap.

"Alan?" Gordon asked quietly from beside him.

The blonde haired teen looked up out of his lap and over at Gordon, as did his other three brothers. Gordon hesitated a moment before asking, "What exactly happened at the bank before we showed up?"

"Well," Alan began, looking back down at his lap. He swallowed before continuing. "I got to the hole the Mole had created in the wall just in time to see dad help Evelyn up and stand in between her and the Hood. After he taunted dad for a minute, dad stepped forward and the Hood threw him back into the cell. Evelyn then stepped forward as I ran into the room towards the cell and was thrown into the wall on the other side of the room."

Alan briefly glanced up to see his brother's reaction. Though none of them said anything, Alan could easily see that their anger at the man that had tried to kill them all was beginning to increase. Alan looked back down at his lap as he continued. "The Hood tried to make me think that we had things in common. For a time yesterday, I did think that, but I knew better then. So when I stepped towards him, he threw me into the wall opposite Evelyn before he somehow spun up into the air and landed on the platform."

"I got up to head towards him, only to have him use his powers on me to lift me into the air," Alan swallowed once more and subconsciously rubbed his throat. "And he then started choking me."

"He's lucky he's in prison," Scott growled. Alan looked up from his lap to see Scott's eyes narrowed in anger and his hands balled into fists at his sides. "Else I'd kill him myself."

"Step in line bro," Gordon stated from where he sat beside Alan.

The blonde glanced over at him to see that like Scott, his eyes were narrowed and his hands were fists in his lap. Alan then looked over at Virgil to see that he too glared and his lips were pursed into a thin line. Glancing up over at where John sat at his desk, he saw that the elder blond of the family was not glaring as his brothers were but instead, his eyebrows were furrowed together as he stared down at the floor, his muscles tense.

"He dropped me when Evelyn climbed up onto the platform and rammed into his side. When I looked up, the Hood had pushed her away and he somehow got her to fall off the edge of the platform," Alan continued, though he no longer looked down at his lap but looked around at his siblings to gauge their reaction.

Gordon's eyes, if possible, narrowed even more at the mention of the Hood trying to kill his twin.

"Well, that explains the hands and ankle," Virgil stated softly as like the rest of his brothers that had not witnessed the events looked down at the floor beside Alan's bed. From Alan's other side, Gordon nodded.

"When she was dangling, I got back up and ran towards the Mole. As I began to climb up it, the Hood somehow turned it on and I jumped up and grabbed the bottom rail on the platform. I think it was at the same time as Evelyn fell," Alan explained. "The Hood then pushed one of my hands off before turning back towards dad and taunting him. It was then that Tin-Tin entered the room. She fought the Hood and somehow managed to flip the platform into the position it was in when you guys showed up."

"I repeat, he is damn lucky he is in prison," Scott growled; John, Virgil, and Gordon nodded their agreement with his statement from where they sat.

Scott then looked up at Alan on the bed before stretching forward and pulling the teen into a tight hug, though he was careful of Alan's ribs.

"Remind me to thank Tin-Tin," Scott stated as he released Alan, though he did keep a firm grip on the teen's arms. Alan gave his eldest brother a small smile and nodded.

* * *

Back in Evelyn's room, Jeff had sat back on his heels as he continued to hold her tightly as she continued to sob into her father's shoulder. Her hands had grabbed handfuls of his shirt and held it tightly in her fists. Jeff rubbed small circles on her back with one hand while the other kept gently stroking her hair. 

After a good while of sobbing, she lifted her head and looked up at Jeff as tears continued to fall steadily down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry daddy," she said, sniffling as she looked up at him. "I'm sorry for everything. Being mad at you from our argument in August, trying to drive myself to the hospital in the first place, not telling you about the oven or the fact that I've been flying ultralights since last October, and the fact that I'm in jeopardy of failing a few of my classes, or my jerk of a Biology teacher since I thought I could prove him wrong on my own, or why I came home early which was-"

"Evie. Evie, it's alright. It's okay," he interjected as she rambled on and on through her tears. She slowly stopped her talking and looked up at her father. "And I already know that your doctor told you to take time off from school due to stress."

"W-what? How?" she asked as a look of confusion formed on her tear trail covered face.

"I heard your conversation with Alan earlier," he replied. She looked confused for a moment before she remembered the contents of that conversation and her tear filled green eyes widened.

"H-how much of it did you hear?" she asked before she hiccupped, her tears beginning to stop as the fear she had felt from her nightmare began to fade and was replaced by the fear of what exactly her father had heard.

"Most of it," Jeff replied. He removed the hand that had been stroking her hair and brought it up to her face, whipping away the last few tears that had fallen before resting his hand on her cheek. "Evelyn, I'm sorry. I was trying to protect you and it seems I only succeeded in hurting you more. Yes, your accident is the reason I wouldn't let you become a member of International Rescue."

"Dad-"

"Let me finish Evelyn," he stated, cutting her off as she tried to stop him. She sniffled once more and nodded. "I just didn't want you to get hurt again. I was just so scared for your brother at the time when they told me that they were also bringing you in, I-I hadn't felt so scared since I had been told that your mother had been in the avalanche."

Jeff swallowed and closed his eyes to hold back the oncoming tears before opening them and looking at Evelyn. "It was never because you were immature or reckless because you are not either of those things and you stressing yourself over college serves to prove that. I just couldn't handle seeing you hurt again. Though from what I heard earlier, I was the one that was hurting you. And for that I am sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Dad," Evelyn whispered, her voice breaking as Jeff closed his eyes and a few tears leaked out. Her own tears began to fall once more as she once more wrapped her arms around him and hugged her father tightly. "I love you, daddy."

Jeff felt his heart swell as Evelyn whispered those three words to him for the first time in almost eight months. He wrapped his arms even tighter around her as his own tears began to fall freely. "I love you too, Evelyn. So, so much."

"I know that now," she whispered in reply, closing her eyes in content as she relished in the warmth and feel of her father's arms around her. 

After a long while of just sitting on the floor of Evelyn's room and hugging each other tightly, Jeff began to release Evelyn. Taking her father's cue, she removed her arms from around him and leaned back to look at him.

"Now," Jeff began, reaching up and whipping his face with his hand before looking at Evelyn. "You said some things in your mumbling earlier that I didn't understand. Something about ultralights and a Biology teacher?"

Evelyn chuckled as she whipped her own eyes. "Well, you remember that small plane that looks like a goose in the movie  _Fly Away Home_?"

Jeff nodded, vaguely remembering the small craft that he had seen a few times when he would find Lucille and Evelyn sucked into the movie. "You've been flying one of those?"

"Mine doesn't look like a goose, but yes they are what I fly. I've been flying since October," she replied. "Samantha's older brother Samuel and his family teach any who are willing to learn how to fly them. I called in a favor to them for Alan's birthday and while I taught Alan, Sam taught Fermat."

"You took him flying for his birthday?" Jeff asked in disbelief. Evelyn nodded in reply. Jeff chuckled and shook his head. "I bet he loved that."

"He did. After that, every time they saw me the first thing they said was 'can we go flying?'" she replied with a laugh.

"And what about this teacher?" Jeff asked. 

Evelyn's smile disappeared and she groaned. "Mr. Thomson, my Biology teacher. Well, on the first day he kicked me out because I was late, wearing a hat and skates and apparently had no manners. Since then he has made it clear he hates my guts, though that feeling is mutual and he thinks I'm nothing more than a spoiled rich girl."

"How come no one has reported him for treating you like that?" Jeff asked, mostly to himself. "I'm guessing he's the reason you became so stressed?"

Evelyn smiled softly as she looked at her father. "Now I know where John gets's it. He said something similar when I told him about Mr. Thomson."

"Did he?" Jeff asked. "Just how often do you talk to him?"

"Whenever I need help with homework or just someone to talk to," Evelyn replied. She watched as a flicker of disappointment passed over her father's face. "But I think after this, I'll defiantly be calling you more often."

Jeff smiled at Evelyn fondly before bending forward and planting a kiss on her forehead. Evelyn smiled at him as he sat back on his heels before once more wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. 

She rested her chin on his shoulder and muttered, "I love you, daddy." 

 


	40. Healing

**Chapter Thirty Nine- Healing** **  
March 26th, 2020**

Four days before Evelyn was due to head back to Boston found the young copper haired women climbing out of bed late in the morning. As she pushed the covers off and sat at the edge of her bed, she realized that for the first time in a week, her right ankle felt fine. Grabbing the crutch from her nightstand, she pulled herself up off the bed.

For a moment she stood beside her bed, leaning on the crutch before taking her weight off of it and putting it onto her both her feet. She smiled as she felt nothing out of the ordinary. There was no pain whatsoever in her right ankle. Setting the crutch back down next to her nightstand she walked over and opened her door before stepping out into the hallway.

Seeing as it was now almost lunch time, Evelyn decided to not go downstairs and instead walked down the hall to see if her father was in his office. She smiled as she noticed the door was open and spotted her father and younger brother inside.

Jeff was sitting at his desk looking over a paper in his hand while Alan stood beside him looking anxious. As Evelyn entered the room, Jeff looked up from the paper up and smiled up at Alan. "It's good Alan. It's very good."

"Thanks, dad," he replied as Jeff handed him back the paper. The blondes' ribs were healing very quickly, something both he and Virgil were happy about. Though they did occasionally give him problems when he moved a certain way.

Alan then noticed Evelyn as she walked into the room and smiled at her. "Hey, Evie."

Jeff turned around in his chair and smiled at his daughter. "Morning sleepy head."

"Morning. I just couldn't sleep last night so I read my book instead," she replied stepping forward and hugging Alan briefly before moving to hug her father.

"Nightmares still?" he asked as she stood back up and stood next to his chair, Alan beside her. It was then he noticed the absence of her crutch. "I see the ankle is healed."

"For the most part yes. I'm just not going to try to do a cartwheel just yet," she replied with a laugh. "And no, not nightmares. Just couldn't sleep due to excitement."

"What were you excited about?" Alan asked. Evelyn bit her lip as she smiled and rocked back and forth on her heels. "Scratch that. What _are_ you excited about?"

"Well," she began, clasping her hands in front of her. "Last night I got an e-mail from Dr. George Carnarvon, who works at the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. It seems my history teacher is a good friend of his and she has told him of my interests in ancient Egypt. He's offered to teach me Egyptian Arabic and how to read hieroglyphs. Mrs. Morris has talked the board into having it count as the foreign language credits I need for my degree. And he said once I graduate, he may invite me to the dig he is currently beginning to finance."

"No wonder you couldn't sleep!" Alan laughed as he pulled his older sister into a hug. Jeff stood up from his chair as the two siblings parted, smiling at Evelyn as he too pulled her into a hug.

"Good for you Evie. This is a great opportunity for you," he said as he held her at arm's length and looked at her ecstatic face.

"Hey, dad? Have you seen," Virgil began to ask as he walked into the room, closely followed by John. The three occupants of the room turned towards the doorway and smiled as they entered. He spotted Evelyn and shook his head. "Never mind. What's everybody so happy about?"

"I'm gonna learn Egyptian," Evelyn replied happily as she walked over to where he and John stood in the doorway. "Why were you looking for me Virge?"

"Well, I wanted to check out your ankle after I look at John's arm," Virgil glanced down at her ankle before smiling back up at her. "But it looks like it is doing just fine. Though I do want to see how your hands are doing."

"Okay," Evelyn replied with a shrug as the three of them walked out of the office, leaving Jeff and Alan smiling behind them.

It didn't take long for the three siblings to reach the infirmary on the second floor. When they entered the room, Virgil went over to one of the cabinets as John and Evelyn sat down on one of the beds.

"So you're going to learn Egyptian?" John asked, smiling over at Evelyn beside him. Evelyn grinned and nodded vigorously as Virgil came over with a fresh roll of gauze and antiseptic cream.

Heading to Evelyn first, he took her right hand and peeled off the gauze he had wrapped around it the night before. Once the old bandage was off, he threw it in the garbage and looked at the healing cut. New light pink skin was visible around the small area's that were still scabbed over.

"It looks good. The little scabbing that's left may be gone by the time you leave Sunday morning," Virgil stated as he applied the cream and wrapped the gauze over the healing wound before moving on and repeating the process with her left hand.

"Is the news of learning Egyptian why you missed breakfast?" John asked as Virgil finished up with her left hand.

"Yeah. I saw the e-mail when I checked it one last time before bed. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep and ended up reading most of the night," she replied as Virgil moved on and checked over the cut on John's arm. The sling had been removed the day before when John had found he could move his wrist without any pain.

"Are you done with it yet?" Virgil asked as he removed the gauze from the cut, which was scabbed over and steadily getting smaller. He glanced up as Evelyn shook her head. "You've had your head glued to that book for almost a week and you're not done yet?"

"I have not had my head glued to it," she stated. Virgil and John both looked over at her with raised eyebrows. Evelyn sighed and threw her hands into the air. "Fine! So I have! God, can all of you do that?"

"Do what?" Virgil asked as he finished securing the fresh gauze around John's arm.

"What she calls a 'Jedi mind trick,'" John replied as he smiled over at Evelyn, who frowned at him and stuck her tongue out. This only caused them both to laugh.

Virgil then took the gauze and cream and replaced it in one of the drawers as Evelyn and John got up off the bed. John wrapped an arm around her shoulders and repeated what he had told her three months prior during one of their late-night conversations. "It's not mind reading or 'Jedi' tricks Evie, we just know you."

"Well said Johnny boy," Virgil commented as he walked over to where they stood between the beds and smiled at Evelyn.

 


	41. Changes

  **Chapter Forty- Changes**

Not long after lunch, Evelyn found herself walking into the movie room on the second floor of the house. In her arms was the stuffed goose Gordon had given to her for Christmas. She set the goose down on the large couch that sat in the middle of the room opposite the large entertainment center before heading to the shelves of movies that lined the back wall of the room.

She went straight for where she knew the movie she wanted to watch was on the shelf and pulled it down. As she walked towards the entertainment center, she opened the case and pulled out the disk. Setting down the case on top of the DVD player, she pushed the button and the drawer slid open. Grabbing the remote off the shelf above the player, Evelyn walked back to the couch and sat down, pushing the power button for the television as she did so.

As she waited for the menu to appear, Evelyn grabbed the stuffed goose and wrapped her arms around it as she leaned into the cushions of the couch. When the menu appeared, she pushed the play button on the remote. As she waited for the usual warnings to show before the movie began to play she felt the couch beside her sink as someone sat down.

Evelyn looked over to see Gordon leaning back against the couch next to her. Though he was changed into a clean pair of clothes, his damp hair told her he had just recently climbed out of the pool. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm sitting down to watch the movie with you."

"But you hate this movie. You've always thought it was boring," she replied as the soft piano music began to come through the speakers as the opening credits began to roll.

"But you and mom always loved it. So I thought I should give it another chance," he replied softly, looking towards the screen as it showed the opening crash scene.

Evelyn hugged the goose a little closer to her chest as she leaned against Gordon's side. As Gordon wrapped an arm around her shoulder's she looked away from the screen and smiled at him. "Love ya Gordy."

Gordon looked away from the screen and smiled at his twin, giving her shoulder a firm squeeze as he looked at her. "Love you too Evie."

* * *

As Jeff walked down the staircase between the second and third floor, he heard the sounds of a movie playing in the movie room. When he reached the landing, he walked down the hall and looked into the room. The familiar sounds of the movie _Fly Away Home_ reached his ears and a smile formed on his face at the sight of the twins on the couch.

Both were clearly sucked into the movie as Evelyn, with the stuffed goose Gordon had given to her for Christmas in her arms, leaned up against her twin, who in turn had an arm around her shoulders. Both of their faces were glued to the screen as Jeff heard the whir of the small planes in the movie sound through the speakers.

"Dad?"

Jeff looked to his right to see Virgil looking at him in curiosity. Jeff nodded towards the room and Virgil walked up beside him and peeked inside. A smile formed on his face at the sight of the twins. "Never thought I'd see the day when he would willingly leave the pool to watch that movie with her."

"I think he would he would do just about anything for her," Jeff replied as Gordon smiled and shouted at something on the screen. Beside him, Evelyn laughed and shook her head at her twin. "Though that's true for any of us."

"And vice versa," Virgil stated as he and Jeff continued to watch the twins. "Oh, and the flight suits are done."

Jeff looked away from the movie room at down at his middle son. "Good. What colors did you end up going with?"

"Tin-Tin's is light green. Fermat's a bluish green and Alan's is yellow," Virgil replied as he looked up at his father. Jeff looked back at the two in the movie room and heaved a heavy sigh before looking back at Virgil. He motioned with his hand towards the music room down the hallway and Virgil nodded in understanding, though he did look curious as to why his father wanted to talk in private.

The two walked down the hallway to the music room. Jeff opened the door and stood aside to let Virgil into the room after him before closing the door. Virgil looked at his father in confusion. "Dad? What's going on?"

"I didn't want to ask you in the hallway because I didn't want Evelyn to overhear," Jeff replied as Virgil took a seat on the bench of the black grand piano that sat in the room. "We're going to need one more flight suit."

* * *

"That was actually pretty good," Gordon commented as the end credits of the movie began to play. Evelyn had gotten off the couch, leaving the goose sitting beside Gordon and walked over to the DVD player to remove the disk. As she pushed stop and opened the drawer, she smiled back at her brother.

"Not as boring as you thought?" she asked, pulling the disk out of the player and putting it back into its case.

Gordon shook his head and replied, "No, not nearly as boring as I thought."

As she walked towards the back of the room to replace the movie onto the shelf, Gordon pushed the power button on the remote and the screen went black. Evelyn then walked back to the couch, grabbed the stuffed goose and sat down beside her twin. "Why the sudden interest in this movie?"

"Because it's something that you love and I wanted to learn to love it too," he replied softly as he looked over at her. "Though you will probably not get me to try cheerleading."

"Even though you would be surrounded by a bunch of girls in short skirts?" she asked with a small smirk, hugging the goose to her chest once more.

Gordon tapped his fingers against his chin and looked thoughtful for a moment "Maybe it's not such a bad thing. The guys hold up the girls, right?"

Evelyn laughed, pulled one arm away from the goose and punched her brother playfully in the shoulder. "Typical guy."

"And I know you wouldn't have me any other way," he stated with a smirk as he rubbed his shoulder for a moment before wrapping his arm around her and pulling her against his side.

Evelyn shook her head and chuckled as she leaned up against him. "Oh shut up."

 


	42. Joining the Team

**Chapter Forty-One- Joining the Team** **  
March 28th, 2020**

The evening before Alan, Fermat, and Evelyn were due to be taken back to Boston found all the inhabitants of the island, plus the visiting Lady Penelope and Parker, in or around the pool. Brains was kneeling next to the side of the shallow end of the pool, where he was teaching Fermat how to swim. John lounged on a pink inflatable chair in the middle of the pool but was knocked off of it by Gordon. Near the chairs where their towels were spread out, Alan climbed out of the pool and walked over to where his thin blue button up shirt set on a chair.

Back in the middle of the pool, Evelyn laughed and ducked out of the way as Gordon hit the beach ball into Scott's head. The eldest Tracy swam past her and towards her twin. When he reached Gordon, Scott jumped on top of him and pushed him underneath the water. Shaking her head, Evelyn swam over to the edge of the pool and rested her arms on the edge as she watched Alan pull his shirt on. "How are the ribs?"

"A little sore, but tolerable," he replied as he buttoned up the second button on the shirt and smiled over at his sister. Just beyond her, Brains was helping Fermat out of the pool.

"So," Tin-Tin began as she came up behind Alan in a brightly colored loose blouse and wrap that she had pulled on over her yellow bikini. She twirled around to show it off as Alan turned towards her. "What do you think Alan?"

"I think he's getting there. Whoa Tin-Tin," Alan gaped as he turned around and looked the Malayan girl over, who simply smiled at the blond. "You're really, uh, blossoming."

At the edge of the pool, Evelyn clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. "Ew! Did you say blossoming?"

"Boys! Evie! Come on out for a minute!" Jeff called as he walked away from the barbecue with Lady Penelope a few feet behind him, both laughing. 

Evelyn pulled herself out of the pool and Alan handed her a towel before Brains lined up Alan, Tin-Tin, and Fermat in a line as Jeff walked towards them. Lady Penelope stood behind him along with Virgil, Gordon, John, and Scott. "We're all here this evening due to three very special people."

Brains then moved off to the side to stand with Kyrano, Onaha, and Parker. Evelyn stood smiling a few feet behind them, wrapping her dark blue towel around her waist as Jeff pulled something out of his pocket. "The world needs more people like you, and the Thunderbirds need you."

Stepping up to Fermat, he took the first of the pins that he held in his hand and pinned it onto the boy's shirt before moving onto Tin-Tin, who looked absolutely thrilled as he pinned the second International Rescue pin to her blouse. "Thank you, sir."

As Jeff moved to pin one of Alan's shirt, Evelyn glanced past them and smiled at her brothers on the other side of the deck, all smiling proudly at their youngest brother. Jeff finished securing the pin on his shirt before putting a hand on his shoulder and smiling down at his youngest son. "No shortcuts Alan. You earned it."

"Way to go sprout," Evelyn stated. Jeff then looked over Alan's shoulder towards her and smiled before turning back to the group behind him.

"There is one last person who we will be welcoming to the team this evening," Jeff began before turning back towards Evelyn, who's smile had disappeared and was replaced by a slack jaw as she stared at her father in disbelief. 

All those around the pool smiled as Jeff moved past Alan and walked over to where she stood. Over where he stood beside his brothers, Virgil looked on with a knowing smile. "She originally should have become a member of the team last August, but due to changed circumstances, she is joining us just a little later the expected."

Evelyn bit her lip to contain a smile, which wasn't working at all and could still be seen as Jeff grabbed one of her hands and opened her palm. Onto the light colored flesh of the healing cut, he placed the last International Rescue pin. Evelyn gave a soft laugh as she looked down at the pin in her hand before closing her hand into a fist. 

She then looked up at Jeff before launching herself towards him and hugging him tightly as she muttered, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"You deserve it, Evelyn," Jeff replied as she released her hold on him and smiled down at her. "I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize that."

"Better late than never," she stated with a shrug before once more wrapping her arms around her father. "I love you, daddy."

"I love you too," Jeff replied. Behind them, a loud splash was heard and the father and daughter turned around to see that Scott and Virgil had pushed Alan into the pool and John jumped in after them. Gordon stood a few feet away, smiling at his twin. 

Jeff released his daughter and then walked over to where Lady Penelope stood. Both of them watched with a smile as Gordon pulled his sister into a tight hug. "I knew you would become a Thunderbird sooner or later."

"Thanks, Gordon," Evelyn whispered in reply as Gordon released his twin. He glanced at the pool behind her and smirked. Evelyn shook her head as he began to walk towards her. "Not gonna happen Gordon."

"Yeah it is!" he yelled as he rushed forward and attempted to push her in. She bit her lip as she struggled to hold her ground, the edge of the pool behind her. 

She then looped her arm through that of her twin and smirked at him. "If I'm going in, I'm taking you with me!"

She then stepped back and both of the fell into the pool, their siblings laughing as the water splashed up around them. As the twins surfaced, Jeff's cell phone rang. All those in and around the pool stopped laughing as they looked towards him. "Yes, Madam President?"

A few moments of silence followed as the women on the other end of the phone talked to Jeff. After a few moments, Jeff nodded and replied, "We're on our way."

He then closed the phone and put it back into his pocket before looking towards the pool where his children watched him. "Time to go to work boys! You too Evelyn!"

Evelyn smiled as she and Gordon swam to the edge of the pool and pulled themselves out. She unwrapped the now soaked towel from around her waist and set it down on the chair before reaching forward and grabbing Gordon's before he could grab it. "Hey!"

"Well you soaked mine so it's the least you could do," she replied with a smirk as she toweled off her hair before handing it over to her twin. 

 


	43. Thunderbirds Are Go!

  **Chapter Forty-Two- Thunderbirds Are Go!**

When Evelyn reached her room a few minutes after leaving the pool, she closed the door behind her and walked into the room, the International Rescue pin still clutched tightly in her hand. Walking towards her bed, she spotted a lumpy package wrapped in brown paper sitting in the middle of her bed. Setting the pin down on her nightstand, she picked up the package and began to pull back the paper.

She smiled to herself as she pulled back the brown paper to reveal her own Thunderbird flight suit, gloves, a white undershirt and matching boots, trimmed in a pale blue. Stitched onto a patch on the left side of the chest was her name written just under 'International Rescue.' 

Evelyn let out a soft chuckle as she ran her fingers over her name. She pulled the boots out and set them on the floor next to her bed before pulling out the gloves, undershirt and the suit itself and setting it down on her bed.

After changing out of her bathing suit and into her undergarments, she grabbed the thick white undershirt off the bed and pulled it on. Once the high collar was settled around her neck, she grabbed the flight suit and began to pull it on in a similar fashion to the ones she wore while flying ultra lights. 

After zipping the suit up all the way and securing the Velcro around the neck, she grabbed the pin from her nightstand and pinned it onto the suit just above the stitching of 'International Rescue.' She then walked into her bathroom and grabbed a hair tie, pulling her dark copper hair up into a bun on the back of her head before walking back into her room and sitting down on her bed.

Evelyn then grabbed the black and light blue boots that she had set on the floor and pulled out the black socks that had been stuffed inside them and pulled them onto her feet. After tucking in the bottom of the flight suit into the boots, she then reached over and grabbed the gloves off her nightstand and began to pull them onto her hands. When she finished securing the Velcro around her wrists, she then pushed herself off the bed and walked to her door.

She opened it and stepped out into the hallway, glancing down the hall she saw Alan stepping out of his room in a suit trimmed in yellow. He smiled when he saw her and she waited just outside her door as he walked over to her. Slinging an arm over his shoulder, the two began to walk down the hall towards their father's office.

"Looks like you were wrong," Alan stated as they walked down the hallway. "You said dad would never make you a Thunderbird, but he has."

"I've never been so glad to be wrong in my life," she replied with a laugh, smiling at Alan as they reached the doors to their father's office. 

The two entered the room with Evelyn's arm still over Alan's shoulders and were not surprised to find it had already been switched to Command and Control, or that the rest of their family, Brains, and Fermat were already in the room.

All faces turned towards the two as they entered the room. Scott, John, and Gordon were standing together near the portraits that hid the lifts down to the silos. Two more lifts had been revealed to the right of Johns, no portrait marked these two. Brains sat in one of the chairs at the desk with Fermat beside him while a few feet away Jeff and Virgil stood talking. Virgil held a digital camera in his hands. Jeff and Virgil walked around the desk and over to the two youngest members of the family.

"Okay you two," Jeff began as he and Virgil stopped in front of them. "Stand in front of the unmarked lifts and Virgil will take your picture for your portrait."

"Okay," Evelyn replied with a shrug, removing her arm from around Alan as he nodded. The two walked over to the lifts and stood before them; Alan next to John and Evelyn to his right. First Virgil took Alan's picture, who tried to look as serious as possible as he looked towards the camera. Beside him, Evelyn laughed as the picture was taken and a few seconds later appeared on the wall behind him, the background now a bright yellow instead of gray.

"Nice," Evelyn muttered as she glanced over at the portrait beside her. Virgil then moved to stand in front of her. She turned her attention away from Alan's portrait and smiled brightly towards the camera. Virgil pushed the button and a few seconds her portrait appeared on the wall behind her, the gray background replaced with a pale blue. With a smile of satisfaction, Virgil handed the camera to Jeff who took it from his son before heading back behind the desk. Virgil then walked over to stand in front of his own portrait between Scott and Gordon.

Jeff set the camera down on the desk before looking up at his six children. "We don't know much about what has happened yet but what we do know is this; up in the Bering Strait, a cruise ship with two hundred passengers was passing a glacier when part of it broke away and hit the ship. The damage sustained is unknown but it is imperative you get the passengers off the ship and into Thunderbird Two as quickly as possible."

"Alan," Jeff began, looking towards his youngest. "I want you to go in Thunderbird One with Scott. Evelyn, you are to go in Two. Alright?"

The two nodded in understanding as their siblings glanced over towards them, smiling. Jeff then smiled proudly towards all his children before stating, "Thunderbirds are go."

All faces snapped forward and looked towards their father as he stood behind Brains. Evelyn smiled and glanced out of the corner of her eye to see that her younger brother was also wearing a smile. Behind them, the portraits slid open to reveal the lifts. The six siblings then stepped back into the lifts. 

Evelyn squealed in excitement as she was bathed in the light blue light that showed down on her. The last thing she saw before the portrait slid closed was her father chuckling at her squeal.


	44. Sinking Ship

**Chapter Forty Three- Sinking Ship**

"Thunderbird One to Thunderbird Two, do you copy?" Alan asked over the communications link between the two craft.

Virgil, Gordon, John and Evelyn currently sat in the command deck as the great green craft flew towards Alaska. Virgil took the pilot's seat while Gordon and John were seated in the seats as co-pilots.

"Loud and clear Thunderbird One," Virgil responded. The sky outside the ship was black and a light rain hit the windows.

"We've arrived at the site. The Sea Princess is afloat but I've contacted the captain and he has confirmed that they are taking on water," Alan explained. "What's you ETA?"

"About fifteen minutes," John answered, looking to one of the monitors in front of him.

"FAB John," Alan replied. "I'm going to contact the captain and ask him to have all the passengers up on the top deck of the ship. The total count is 235 passengers and 175 crew members. We're going to need the rescue platform"

"FAB Alan. How's the weather?" Gordon asked, glancing back towards where Evelyn sat behind him and pointing between them, indicating that the two of them would go down onto the platform. Evelyn nodded that she understood.

"A light rain is about it," Scott's voice answered over the communications system. "And a slight breeze but nothing too bad."

"FAB. ETA ten minutes," John answered before turning around in his chair towards Evelyn. "Gordon, Evie, get ready and head down to the platform."

"Okay," the twins answered in unison as both stood from their seats and headed out of the command deck and towards the lift that would take them down to the belly of Thunderbird Two.

Just before they reached the lift, Gordon went to the closet just a few feet away from it and pulled out two helmets and handed one to her. With the helmets in hand, the two entered the lift and Gordon pushed the button for them to go down.

"Ready for your first rescue?" Gordon asked as the lift began to take them down, smiling as he looked over at his sister beside him.

Evelyn smiled at him and nodded in reply as she transferred the helmet from her right hand to her left. "Defiantly."

"ETA five minutes," John announced through the headset each of them wore on their right ear. The lift reached the belly of Thunderbird Two and the doors slid open.

Gordon gave Evelyn a smile before pulling on his helmet. Evelyn followed his lead and pulled on her own as they entered the hallway leading towards where the rescue platform waited for them.

Gordon was the first to reach the circular, bright yellow platform and pulled down a lever that allowed him to open the small gate on the platform that protected those that were on it. He stepped aside and motioned for Evelyn to enter before him, before entering the platform himself and closing the gate securely behind him. He then went over to the controls just to the left of the gate."We're ready when you are Virge."

"FAB Gordon. We're getting into position," Virgil replied. Silence filled the air for a few more moments until Virgil's voice once more sounding over the communication link. "We're in position."

"FAB Virgil. Deploying rescue platform," Gordon announced as he pulled a lever on the console before him. The platform was raised several feet into the air before he pushed yet another button and the doors below them slid open. Evelyn looked down over the side and could vaguely see the crowd of people on the deck of the ship waiting for them several hundred feet below. Gordon then pushed a button and the platform began to descend towards the ship.

Evelyn held onto the side railing of the platform as it swayed slightly as it descended closer and closer to the sun deck of the ship. Just before they reached the deck, Gordon pushed another button and the platform landed softly on the deck. The people on the deck that were talking loudly until that point cheered. "We're down."

"FAB," John's voice replied. Evelyn then went to the gate and lifted the latch on the inside and pushed it open. The crowd of people were yelling, some calling for family members and some arguing as they tried to push their way forward through the crowd. She stepped off the platform and was immediately greeted by a tall young man wearing a clean, white uniform.

"Boy, are we glad to see you. I'm Charlie Morris, Captain of the Sea Princess!" he yelled over the noise of the panicking passengers behind him as a soft rain pattered down on those gathered on the deck. "The engine rooms are already flooded and so are the lower three decks."

"We'll do our best to get everyone off of this ship as quickly as possible then," she replied loudly. The captain nodded that he had heard and understood what she had said. "Our platform can only take up twenty at a time."

"I've already got my officers doing their best to control our passengers, but I think we can corral them into groups of twenty for you!" Charlie shouted. Evelyn nodded her reply. The captain then turned away and walked to one of the officers behind him and told him the plan.

The officer nodded before shouting to the crowd around him and soon the first group of twenty were being loaded onto the platform. Securing the latch, Evelyn then signaled for Gordon to take up the first group.

This process repeated several times without any problems. John had moved down into the belly of Thunderbird Two to control the passengers as Evelyn helped load up the platform for Gordon. The process went without a hitch until one woman in near hysterics in the last group of passengers was loaded onto the platform.

"No! NO! Let me go!" she screamed as she was moved along with the rest of the group into the platform. As Evelyn closed the gate, the women grabbed her hand. "Let me go! I need to find Gracie! I need to find my daughter!"

"Where did you last see her ma'am?" Evelyn asked, gently removing the women's death grip on her hand.

"She was down on Riviera deck, in the kid's area when I last saw her," the women replied. "Three levels down."

"Don't worry ma'am, I'm going to find your daughter," Evelyn answered firmly. She then looked towards Gordon as she stepped out of the rescue platform. "Take 'em up."

"Where are you going?" Gordon asked as he stood beside the controls.

"To find that little girl," Evelyn replied. She glanced at Charlie before turning away and running towards the nearest staircase leading down to the lower decks, ignoring the shouts of protest from Gordon sounding in her ear.

* * *

"EVELYN!" they heard Gordon's yell through the headset he wore on his ear. Though not many had been paying close attention to the conversation that had been happening between Evelyn and Gordon down on the rescue platform, they were paying attention now.

"Gordon? What's going on?" Scott asked. He glanced over at Alan who sat beside him in Thunderbird One as they hovered over the cruise ship that was slowly but steadily sinking into the water.

"Thunderbirds Two, One, and Base we have a member in the ship," Gordon stated, doing his best to keep up protocol in front of the passengers of the ship now on the rescue platform. Alan felt his stomach drop at Gordon's next words. "She went down to find a girl three levels down."

"SHE DID WHAT?" Jeff, Scott, and Virgil shouted through the communications system. Alan glanced down at the screen in Thunderbird One that had been split to show those on the island and those up on the command deck of Thunderbird Two. Jeff and Virgil had visibly paled as did Scott beside him, though Alan was sure he had paled just as they had.

* * *

"I can still hear you, you know?" Evelyn shouted into her headset as she ran down yet another flight of stairs and found herself on the Riviera deck. She glanced around the main room for a sign as to where the kid's lounge was before spotting one on a stand that had been knocked over by passengers in a rush to get up to the sun deck. "And before any of you say anything no, I will not go back up there. I'm down on the Riviera deck right now."

Evelyn rolled her eyes as she heard them try to convince her to go back up but simply let it wash over her but not sink in. She picked up the sign and found that the kid's area she was looking for was just a little ways to her left. She looked that direction and spotted the dark neon sign that had once told passengers what the room had been. As she stood up, she stated into the headset, "I found the club. Hopefully, this girl is in there."

Walking towards the dark kids club, Evelyn kept her eyes sharp for any movement. "GRACIE!"

She stepped through the doorway and glanced around the room, able to make out the dark shapes of video games, an air hockey table, a group of computers and a movie area all silhouetted against a large window that faced the glacier shining outside. As she reached the center of the room, she heard a groan from her right. "Gracie?"

"Mommy?" asked a meek voice from behind one of the machines. Evelyn hurried around it and spotted a little blond girl roughly nine years old laying on the ground, with a mess of toys scattered around her feet. The girl looked up at Evelyn with dark brown eyes that widened at the sight of her flight suit. "Thunderbird!"

"That's right. My name is Evelyn, " Evelyn replied as she knelt down next to the girl. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Grace Thomson. But everyone calls be Gracie," she replied as Evelyn helped her sit up.

"You're mommy's very worried about you. Are these toys why you are still down here?"

Gracie nodded. "I tripped and my foot hurts."

Evelyn glanced towards the girl's feet and spotted the swollen area of her left foot. "Looks like you have a sprained ankle. I'm gonna have to carry you up. Okay?"

"Okay," Gracie replied. Evelyn helped pull the girl up to her feet before kneeling down before her and instructing her to climb onto her back.

As the young girl wrapped her arms around Evelyn's neck, who secured her own arms around the girl's legs, stood up and began to walk towards the entrance to the room. "Let's get you back to your mom."

"My grandpa is with us too," she replied as Evelyn walked out into the main room she had first entered and headed towards the staircase.

"Did your dad come too?" Evelyn asked as she began to climb up the stairs.

"My dad was bad," Gracie replied. "He got in trouble for hitting my mommy and me."

Evelyn felt a slight tinge of anger rush through her at the mention of someone hitting the girl now clinging to her back. She sighed and pushed the anger back as she continued the conversation. "So just you, your mom and your grandpa. Any brothers or sisters?"

"Nope," Gracie replied as Evelyn emerged onto the second level of the ship and headed towards the staircase to the first deck. "Do you have any?"

"Five brothers, one of them my twin who keeps saying that he is older than me when he really isn't," she replied.

Over her headset, she heard Gordon shout, "I am too older than you!"

"I don't have any brothers or sisters, but I have a load of cousins," Gracie stated as Evelyn emerged on the first deck and headed over for the stairs up to the sun deck where the rescue platform waited. "I have twenty-three cousins, though the youngest was just born three days ago."

"We don't have any cousins," Evelyn replied. "Mom and dad were only children."

The conversation was brought to a close as Evelyn stepped onto the sun deck. The rain was now coming down a little harder than it had been and Gracie's blond hair was soon soaking wet. They reached the waiting rescue platform that was devoid of passengers and only the captain and Gordon stood on it. Stepping into the rescue platform, Gordon closed the gate behind her as Charlie took Gracie off her back.

Evelyn cringed behind her helmet as Gordon glanced at her before going to the controls. She was so going to be in for it when all this was over. Gordon then pushed a button and the platform shook slightly as it lifted off the deck. "We're going up."

A few moments later, Evelyn lifted the latch on the gate and pushed it open. Immediately the women who had been in hysterics a few moments before rushed forward and took her daughter from Charlie.

He smiled at her before walking away as another man walked up that was obviously Gracie's grandfather. Evelyn froze beside the basket as her Biology teacher Mr. Thomson hugged his granddaughter.

Mr. Thomson and Gracie's mother both look up at Evelyn. He then stepped forward and grabbed Evelyn's hand tightly. "Thank you. Thank you so much for rescuing my granddaughter."

"It's my job sir," Evelyn replied before paling behind her helmet.

"Wait a moment," he began, his expression curious before his eyes widened in recognition. "I know that voice."

"I gotta go," Evelyn replied quickly, heading towards the hallway that led to the lift and stepped inside.

She leaned against the wall panting at the close call for a few moments before Gordon entered and pushed the button. As the lift began to move, Evelyn pulled off her helmet and Gordon did the same beside her.

He then set his helmet down on the floor before taking Evelyn's out of her hands and setting into down next to his before pulling her into a bone crushing hug. As Evelyn wrapped her arms around her twin she heard him ask, "Please don't ever do that to me again?"

He let her go and held her at arm's length as the lift reached the hallway outside the command deck. Evelyn smiled at him softly and shook her head, "In this business, I can't make any promises."

 


	45. Success Has a Price Tag

**Chapter Forty Four- Success Has a Price Tag** **  
March 29th, 2020**

Not long after arriving back at Tracy Island after dropping off the passengers of the Sea Princess in Oregon, each Tracy found themselves trying to fall asleep though a few of them found that they could not. After an hour or so of tossing and turning, Scott Tracy found himself to be one of them.

The eldest Tracy found himself stepping out into the hall, intent on heading downstairs to grab something to eat, hoping that once he had he would be able to get to sleep. In the distance, he could hear Virgil playing the piano signaling that he too was not the only one who could not sleep. Passing the door to John's room, he saw that his space loving brother was also up, most likely outside with a telescope.

As he passed the door to Gordon's room, he heard his copper-headed brother's snores slightly muffled by the door. Across the hall, the door to Evelyn's bedroom was also open. Knowing his sister, she would probably also be down in the kitchen. Scott passed by Virgil's room, already knowing where his middle brother was located and just as he was about to pass the door to Alan's room, he heard muffled sobs coming through the door.

Feeling concern for his youngest brother growing at the sound, Scott stopped outside the door and grasped the knob. As he pushed it open and peeked into the dark room, he asked, "Sprout? You alright?"

Scott felt his heart clench when the silent answer to his question was given to him when his youngest brother looked up at him. Alan sat on his bed with his knees drawn to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. When he looked up to see Scott in his doorway, his tear filled blue eyes reflected the soft light coming in from the hallway.

"Alan," Scott stated softly as he walked into the room, all thoughts of food forgotten as he quickly moved towards the bed.

He sat down on the bed beside Alan, who quickly uncurled from his position and wrapped his arms around his eldest brother as he sobbed into his shoulder.

Scott wrapped his arms around the blond haired teen and pulled him into his lap, then began rubbing comforting circles on the teens back as he continued to sob into Scott's shoulder.

After a long while, Alan's sobs began to subside but he still kept his face buried in Scott's shoulder. Scott looked down at his brother as the sobs came to an end. "You wanna talk about it?"

Alan didn't respond for several moments, and just when Scott was beginning to wonder if the teen had fallen asleep, he lifted his face and looked up at Scott. His eyes were red from crying and tear trails were visible on his face. He removed one arm from around Scott and glanced down for a moment to wipe his eyes.

When he lowered his hand, he responded softly, "I thought I was fine. I hadn't had a nightmare in almost a week. But-"

"But the rescue brought it all back," Scott finished for him. Alan nodded as he sniffled and Scott resumed rubbing circles on his back. "You're not the only one still having nightmares about it Allie."

"Really?" Alan asked.

"Of course I still have them sprout," Scott replied, taking a deep breath and heaving a heavy sigh at the thought of his own nightmares. "I think we all will for a while."

Alan nodded before leaning forward and resting his head on Scott's shoulder as he hugged him tightly. Scott stopped his circles momentarily as he returned the hug just as tightly as the teen and rested his chin upon his blond hair.

They sat like this for a few minutes before Scott slowly released him, though he continued to hold onto Alan's arms as he looked at him. "Now, let's get you back to bed. You may not be going back to Wharton's today, but you still need your sleep."

Alan nodded in reply before moving out of Scott's lap and moving back to sit next to his pillow. As Scott moved to stand up from the bed, Alan bit his lip for a moment. "Scott?"

Scott stood beside the bed and looked down at Alan. "Yeah sprout?"

"Could," Alan began, looking down at his lap. "Could you stay here?"

Scott smiled down at his youngest brother. That had been a question that he hadn't been asked for several years now since Alan had turned eleven and decided that he wanted to act like a big boy, and big boys didn't ask their older brothers to sleep with them because they had a nightmare. "Move over sprout."

* * *

Evelyn sighed as she traced her figure around the edge of the mug of hot chocolate she held in her hands. They had been home almost an hour and unable to sleep due to still being on an adrenaline high, she had come down to the kitchen and had made a mug of hot chocolate, one of the few things she could make in the kitchen without blowing it up.

Her father and the rest of her brothers had reacted in a similar fashion that Gordon had, though it was probably to be expected after all that had happened. Though once he had gotten the over protectiveness out of the way, her father had told her how proud he was of her for going back for that little girl.

She had yet to tell any of them that Mr. Thomson had recognized her voice. What she was concerned about even more than her family's reaction to being recognized on a rescue was the reaction that she would get from Mr. Thomson in class the following morning. Though maybe now he would think of her as something other than a spoiled brat.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

Evelyn jumped slightly where she sat on one of the couches and turned her head to look back at the staircase behind her. John smiled at her as he stepped off the stairs and made his way to the couch to sit beside her.

"No," she replied before taking a sip from her mug.

"It sometimes takes a while for the adrenaline to wear off," he stated, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Evelyn lowered the mug to her lap and leaned into his side.

"That's not the only thing keeping me up," she whispered as she looked down at her mug.

John looked down at her with a curious expression. "Then what is?"

"I was recognized. The girl's grandfather recognized my voice," she replied, looking away from her mug and up at John. "It was Mr. Thomson."

"Mr. Thomson? You're biology teacher?" John asked with a laugh, his eyebrows raised as he looked down at his sister.

Evelyn nodded. "One and the same."

"Maybe now he'll treat you a little better," he stated as he shook his head at the irony of the situation.

Evelyn looked back down at her mug and gave a small shrug. "Maybe."

"It'll be fine Evie," John whispered as he gave her shoulder a little squeeze. She took another sip from her mug before resting her head against his shoulder as she lowered it back to her lap.

The two siblings sat like this for a few minutes until Evelyn yawned. John smiled down at her as she blinked sleepily. He then removed his arm from around her and took the mug from her hands. "I'll take this to the kitchen. You just head up to bed."

"Thanks, John," she replied with a grateful smile as he stood up and headed towards the kitchen with her mug. Evelyn followed his lead a few second later and pushed herself off the couch and headed towards the staircase.

When Evelyn reached the hallway leading to the bedrooms, she noticed the door to Alan's room was open. Peeking into the room to look at her little brother, she was surprised to find that Alan wasn't the only person in the room. Or his bed for that matter.

Scott lay on his side, his back up against the wall. Facing towards him was Alan who had his arms around his eldest brother's waist and his head pressed against his chest as Scott's arms were wrapped protectively around the teen. Evelyn leaned against the doorframe and smiled at the sight. It had been years since she had seen any of her brothers in a position similar to that of what Scott and Alan were in now.

"Evie?"

Evelyn turned her head to see John walk up behind her with Virgil beside him, both looking curious as to why she was standing in the doorway to their youngest sibling's bedroom. She pressed a finger to her lips, telling them to be quiet before pointing to the two sleeping brothers inside the room. As John and Virgil's eyes landed on Scott and Alan, soft smiles formed on their faces.

"I need my camera. I am so painting this," Virgil whispered before heading quickly down the hall towards their father's office, where he had left his camera after taking Alan and Evelyn's portraits.

John and Evelyn looked down the hall at the sound of footsteps and were surprised to see their father in a whispered conversation with Virgil.

"Look," Virgil whispered to Jeff as they reached the room, nodding to the doorway as he took the lens cap off the camera.

Jeff moved past Evelyn and stood in the doorway to the room. As with his sons when they had seen the sight, he smiled fondly as he spotted both his youngest and eldest sleeping peacefully in the room.

Virgil squeezed his way into the room and past his father before kneeling on the floor beside him and lifting the camera to his face. A soft click was heard before he stood back up and moved his way back out into the hallway, replacing the lens cap as he went. "This is going to make an awesome painting."

"What the heck is going on?" Gordon asked sleepily as he poked his head out of his bedroom. His three awake siblings turned back to looked at him and shushed him.

He stepped out of the doorway to his room, walked to where they were standing and looked over his twin's shoulder to peek into the room. Gordon smiled at the sight of his two brothers.

"Blackmail them and I'll slap you from here to Boston Gordon," Evelyn whispered towards him.

"I never said a thing!" he replied defensively. He looked to John and Virgil where they stood on the other side of the doorway. "Did you hear me say anything?"

"But you were thinking it," she responded, putting her hands on her hips as she glanced over her shoulder at him. Jeff turned around and put a hand on each of their shoulders and moved the two out of the doorway. Once all five of them were out of the doorway, he turned around and closed the door.

"I think it's time we all get to bed," he stated, looking around at the four of them. Gordon muttered his goodnights before retreating back into his room, Virgil followed suit a few moments after him and waved to the three left standing in the hall before closing his door.

John then gave Evelyn a half hug before walking down to his own room and closing the door behind him. Jeff then wrapped an arm around Evelyn's shoulder as the two walked the short distance to the doorway to her own room.

Evelyn smiled at him before hugging him tightly. He kissed her forehead before releasing her and she moved to her own bedroom. "Night daddy."

"Night Evelyn," he replied as she closed the door.

He turned around and walked back down to Alan's room. He opened the door and peeked inside and for a few moments just watched his two son's sleep before quietly closing the door and heading down the hallway towards his own room.

 


	46. Back to School

**Chapter Forty Five- Back to School  
** **March 30th,** **2020**

A day after the rescue found Alan, Fermat, and Evelyn back in Boston. Alan and Fermat had been dropped off at Wharton's not long after arriving in the city before Jeff, Brains, and Evelyn had headed to her apartment for her to drop off her duffle and pick up the things she needed for class that morning.

Unlike the last time, Jeff said nothing about the oven and waited patiently for his daughter to finish checking on Nefertiti and grabbing the things she needed for class, and also dropping off the things she had taken home and would not need for the rest of the day. This time when he offered to give her a ride to the university, she accepted.

A few minutes after leaving her apartment found the rented limo pulling up to the entrance to the university that was closest to her classroom and stepping out of the limo. A few seconds later Jeff followed suit and stepped out of the limo to tell her goodbye. Slinging her backpack over one shoulder, she turned back to her father. "Well, see you in a few months dad."

"Good luck Evelyn," he replied, pulling her into a quick one-armed hug as he smiled down at her. He removed his arm from around her and she hitched up her backpack on her shoulder and turned to head towards the entrance to the school.

She stopped under the archway and bit her lip before turning around and walking back to where her father stood beside the limo. A few feet away from him she removed her backpack from her shoulder and set it on the ground. As soon as she reached her father, she closed her eyes and hugged him tightly. "Love you, daddy."

"I love you too Evelyn," he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her forehead. They stood like this beside the limo for a few minutes before Jeff released her and held at arm's length as he smiled at her. "Now go, before you're late."

Evelyn let out a small laugh and nodded."Okay. I'll talk to you later."

Jeff then released her arms and smiled as she grabbed her backpack off the ground and walked back towards the archway that was the entrance to the university campus. She briefly turned around and waved back at him as she walked through the archway. Evelyn smiled as her father waved back at her before turning and walking down the pathway that led to her biology class, her father and the limo disappearing from sight.

The walk to the classroom didn't take nearly as long as Evelyn was hoping and before she knew it she was just a few feet away from the door. Before she could open it, however, the door was pushed open from the inside and out walked Gracie Thomson and her mother.

Evelyn smiled at them and thanked the women as she held the door open for Evelyn. She smiled to herself and watched as they walked down the hallway before stepping into the room.

Most of the class was already in their seats as the door closed behind her and Mr. Thomson stood behind his desk looking at a stack of papers. Evelyn quickly turned away and headed towards her seat as he looked up to see who had entered.

As she sat down at her desk a few more people entered the room and headed to their own seats before Mr. Thomson cleared his throat and walked out from behind the desk, the stack of papers in his hand.

"These are your midterms and I am happy to say that all of you have passed it," he began, handing the first of the papers to a girl in the front row. He looked up as he continued to hand out the midterms and looked towards Evelyn's, "Even those of you I surely thought would fail."

He continued passing back the tests in silence, though it was broken by the occasional cheer as someone received their test back. After several minutes, Mr. Thomson reached Evelyn's seat and handed her the test she had taken two weeks prior. Mr. Thomson looked down at her and his mustache twitched, showing that there was a small smile beneath it. "Thank you for proving me wrong Miss Tracy."

She took the paper from him before he moved onto the student beside her and looked towards the top to read her score. Her mouth dropped open as she read what was written in the red ink. _'83; B-'_

Below the score was written a small note in his tiny scrawl. _'You proved me wrong Miss Tracy and I thank you for what you did for my granddaughter Saturday night. Your secret is safe with me.'_

Looking up from her paper, she looked up to see Mr. Thomson once more stood behind the desk. So he had recognized her, and it had apparently proved to him that she wasn't the spoiled brat he had thought she was.

She smiled as she bent down at pulled her biology folder from her backpack and set it on the desk in front of her. Maybe the rest of the semester wouldn't be so bad after all.

 


	47. Epilogue-Never Far Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue-Never Far Behind
> 
>  
> 
> _I am sending you a message_  
>  Don't ever think that it's too late  
> When you care about someone  
> There is always room for change  
> You're allowed to make mistakes  
> It's a part of every life  
> I don't see you any different  
> The truth is shining in your eyes
> 
>  
> 
> _Hold on to what you believe_
> 
>  
> 
> _I will always be your friend_  
>  I know who you are inside  
> I am with you till the end  
> Never far behind  
> I am standing in the distance  
> You can take your time  
> And i will be there waiting  
> Never far behind  
> Never Far Behind by Aly & A.J.

**June 13th** , **2024**

"Evelyn Nicole Tracy"

The crowd in the gymnasium cheered as twenty-one-year-old Evelyn smiled as she walked across the stage and accepted her diploma from the dean of the University of Massachusetts Boston and then shook his hand before walking across the stage and heading back to her seat. 

She looked up into the crowd as she stood before her seat and her smiled widened as her green eyes landed on her father and twin, who was currently holding a video camera so the members of her family not there could watch her graduate. Along with her father and Gordon stood Lady Penelope and Parker.

She waved towards the camera with her free hand, her diploma held tightly in the other. She laughed as her twin waved back, for a moment removing the camera from his face so she could see his bright smile. 

Her attention was brought back to the stage that had been erected in the gym as the last graduate walked off the stage and headed to their seat. "If the graduates would please stand."

The cheering of the audience died down as the four hundred students graduating stood up from their seats. Evelyn's smiled widened at the knowledge of what was coming. The dean looked towards the audience and held up his hands. "I am proud to present to you the University of Massachusetts Boston class of 2024!"

The crowd of students cheered as they threw their graduation caps up into the air, not caring if they ever saw them again or not. The people in the stands began to make their way down onto the gymnasium floor to greet the graduates they knew. 

With her diploma in hand, Evelyn weaved her way through the crowd in the direction she had last seen her father and brother. She let out a scream as someone to her right wrapped their arms around her before laughing and throwing her arms around him when she realized it was her twin.

"Way to go Evie!" he shouted over the noise in the gymnasium as he released Evelyn. "Can I see it?"

"Here," she replied with a laugh, handing over her diploma to her brother. Over his shoulder, she spotted her father heading towards them. She moved around Gordon as he looked at her diploma and went to her father, wrapping her arms around him tightly when she reached him. Jeff smiled proudly and returned the hug.

"I am so proud of you Evelyn," he told her, almost shouting to be heard as he held her at arm's length and smiled at her.

"Thanks, dad," she replied before hugging him once more. Jeff released Evelyn when he felt his pocket vibrate. He reached down and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, the twins looking at him in curiosity as he read the text message.

_ETA twenty minutes-Al & Virge_

"We've got to go," Jeff stated, showing them the message on the screen of his phone. 

The two nodded in understanding and he replaced the phone into his pocket. He then went over and wrapped an arm over each of their shoulders and they moved as a group towards where Penelope and Parker sat in the stands waiting for them.

"Congratulations Evelyn," Penelope greeted as she and Parker stood up from where they had been sitting. She then looked to Jeff and asked, "Time to go?"

"Where are we meeting them?" Evelyn asked as the group of five moved towards the exit of the gym.

"Evie!"

Evelyn missed the answer to the question when someone called to her. Jeff removed his arm from her shoulder as she turned around to see who had called after her. 

She smiled as she walked back to greet her good friend Katie Wilson, a blond she had become good friends with after joining the cheer squad. The two exchanged a quick hug before Katie asked, "A bunch of us are going out to dinner. Wanna come?"

Evelyn shook her head and glanced back to where Jeff, Gordon, Penelope, and Parker were waiting for her before looking back towards her friend and replying, "Sorry Katie. I already got plans to meet up with my brothers."

"Oh. Okay," Katie replied with a shrug. "But promise to keep in touch?"

"I will," Evelyn laughed, stepping back towards the group waiting for her. "See ya, Katie!"

"Later Evie!" she called back as Evelyn returned to her spot beside her father. 

As Jeff replaced his arm around her shoulder and the group continued out the doors of the gymnasium she smiled up at him and asked, "So where are we off to this time?"

"Singapore," he replied as they walked down the steps outside the entrance to the gym and Evelyn was able to spot the bright pink FAB 1 in the nearest parking lot.

" **Sounds good to me** ," she smirked as replied Egyptian Arabic that she had learned from George Carnarvon, though the man had passed away a few months prior and her lessons in the language had come to a halt. But that didn't stop her from using what she had been able to learn in the past four years. 

Gordon looked past Jeff and towards his sister. "For the love of all that is good in this world, please speak English!"

" **No** ," Evelyn stated after a few moments of pretending to think about it. 

Jeff laughed as Gordon glared past him and over at his smirking twin. The group had now arrived at FAB 1 and Parked helped Lady Penelope into the bright pink car.

"Okay you two," Jeff intervened, though he still had a smile on his face as he looked between them. "Get in FAB 1 so we can meet your brothers."

Evelyn laughed as Gordon mumbled under his breath as he climbed into FAB 1 followed shortly by Jeff and Evelyn. Parker then climbed into the front seat and within a few moments FAB 1 was pulling out of the university campus and heading towards the outskirts of town.

After driving for roughly fifteen minutes, FAB 1 came to a stop in a field that was very familiar to Evelyn and where Thunderbird Two was waiting for them. 

The three Tracy's climbed out of FAB 1 and thanked Lady Penelope and Parker for the left before running to the lowered platform of Thunderbird Two and climbing up into the belly of the great green craft.

Once they were inside, the alarms sounded that the platform was being raised and they were soon greeted by Alan. The eighteen-year-old, newly graduated from Wharton's made a beeline for Evelyn and hugged her tightly. "Congrats Evie."

"Thanks, Alan," she replied as she pulled away from her younger brother whom she was now eye to eye with. 

As the group began to walk down the hallway towards the lift, Alan motioned for her to hand over the diploma. He looked over it with a smile before handing it back to her. "Bet you never expected this four years ago."

As they entered the lift, Evelyn glanced over at their father and smiled at him for a moment before shaking her head as she looked back at Alan. "Not at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's the end of Never Far Behind. Yes, there will be a sequel but it may not be up for a month or so, unless it ends up like this story and the inspiration won't leave me alone until I write it! (I wasn't even planning on starting this story until around Christmas but it just wouldn't leave me alone!) And rest assured that even though it will have more action, it will also have a healthy heap of family fluff. But first I have to try to get a paper done for school, work on my other fics and also work on my NaNoWriMo novel. Though I have proved that I can write more than fifty thousand words in a month with this story. So hopefully I can do it again!
> 
> Hope to see you all at the sequel!
> 
> Lee


End file.
